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TEOUT CULTUEE, 



BY 



J 

SETH G-REEN 



Published by Seth Green and A. S. Collins, 
CALEDONIA, N. Y. 



70 



ROCHESTER, N. Y.; 

PRESS OF CTTKTIS, MOEEY & CO., ■DNION AND ADVERTISER OFFICE. 

18 ro. 



j9.ua' 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 

SETH GREEN, 

In tlie Clerk's Office of the District pourt of the United States, for 

the Northern Dislricb of New York. 



PREFACE. 



Having beea one of the first to practice Fish-Culture in this country, 
and being now, perhaps, the largest and most successful Trout-Cultur- 
ist in America, so many requests have been made to me " to vs^rite a 
book," that I have at last concluded to try it. This little treatise is in- 
tended as a' manual for Trout-Culturists, and is written especially for 
those who wish to raise Trout. It deals only with the practical part of 
the business. No scientific terms have been used, when other and more 
common names would equally convey the meaning. Neither has any 
scientific enquiry been entertained, any further than it would be of 
practical use to the fish-farmer. The science o'f Fish- Culture is yet in 
its infancy ; and I claim only for this book, that it is an accurate des- 
cription of my own method and practice. Still it should be remember- 
ed that this practice is the result of some years of study, labor and num- 
berless experiments. I am very well convinced that I can handle the 
rod better than the pen, and beg that the book shall be judged by its 
matter rather than by its language and style. 

I am under obligation to my partner, Mr. A. S. Collins, for assist- 
ance in preparing this work. 

SETH GREEN. 



Golden Rule for Pisciculturists. 

"Never put off 'till to-morrow that whieli you can do to-day." 



COISTTEN'TS, 



CHAPTER 1. ^ 

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

Page. 

Fish Culture, 9 

Trout Breediug, 11 

Order of Topics, 11 

CHAPTER n. 

TROUT PONDS. 

Location, 12 

La3-ing out Ponds, 18 

Shape of Ponds, 18 

Raceways, 15 

Bottoms of Ponds, 16 

Screens, 17 

Water Supply, 18 

CHAPTER m. 

HATCHING HOUSE. 

Size and Make, 20 

Troughs, 21 

Water Supply, 22 

Filter, 23 

Gravel for Troughs, 24 

Implements, 25 

CHAPTER IV. 

TREATMENT OP EGGS. 

Placing Eggs in the Troughs, 27 

Temp. ofWaterandTimeoflncubtion, 29 

Growth of Egg, &c 30 

Transportation of Eggs, 30 

CHAPTER V. 

TOUNG TROUT. 

Appearance, .34 

Nursery, .35 

Pood, 37 

Hard to Keep, 40 

Cleaning Screens, 41 

Diseases, 41 



CHAPTER YI. 

ADULT TROUT. 

Page. 
Supply of water for given No. of Trout, 43 

Growth of Trout, 44 

Food, 47 

Temperature of Water, 53 

Diseases and Enemies, 53 

Transfer of Fish, 59 

Other Fish with Trout, 59 

CHAPTER Vn. 

TAKING EGGS. 

Season for Spawning, 60 

Signs of Spawning, 60 

Natural Spawning, 61 

Taking Spawn by Hand, 66 

Taking Eggs by Ainsworth's Screens, . 73 

CHAPTER Vm. 

GENERAL REMARKS. 

Stocking Ponds, 77 

Stocking Streams, 77 

Will it Pay, 78 

Advice to those starting in the Business 79 
Roller Spawning Box, 81 

APPENDIX. 

Fish Farm at Caledonia. N. Y 86 

Part of the Game Law of New York- 
relating to Trout, 89 

Transportation of Live Fish, 91 



i:srDE:x: 



Page. 

Abrading skin of Trout 67 

Additional supplj' of Water for second 

Pond 13 

Advice to those starting in the Business 79 

Age of Trout 44 

Agj,'lutinlzation of Eggs 73—69 

Ainsworth's Screens 73 

Appearance of Young Trout 34 

Assistant in Handling Fish 70 

Best size of Trout for Eating 45 

Best size of Trout for Handling 46 

Best size of Trout for Market 46 

Best Time for Transporting Young... 87 

Birds preying on Fish 64 

Bonnyclabbcr as Food 87 

Bottoms of Ponds 16 

Breeding to Color, &c 47 

Broken Eggs 72 

Caledonia 86 

Cannil)ali8m in Trout 66 

Carrying Fish alive 

Change of Food 50 

Choking in Food 48 

Cleaning Screens 41 

Color of Milt 68 

Color of Trout 47 

Conibiits of males when Breeding 61 

Counting Eggs 26 

Covering Ponds 36 

Covering Races 66 

Cray-flsh 56 

Curd as food for Trout 38—52 

Dead Eggs 30 

Deformities of Young Trout 34 

Diseases of Adult Trout 5.1 

Diseases of Young T,rout 41 

Draining Ponds 17 

Ducks cat Spawn 64 



Page. 

Eggs, Color of 27 

Counting 31 

Eaten by Trout 62 

Examining 25 

Growth of 30 

Hatched in moss 32 

Sun on 20 

Enemies of Trout 53 

Fall of water beUveen Ponds 43—12 

Farmers have best chance 79 

Feathering Eggs 27—73 

Feeding Platform 39 

Feeding Fish 48—37 

Filter 23 

Filter, Screens in 23 

Fire in the Hatching House 20 

Fish Culture 9 

Fish Farm at Caledonia 86 

Flavor of Trout 46 

Floats for Shading Ponds 53 

Food for Adults 47 

Food for Young 37 

Freezing Fish 52 

Frogs in Ponds 55 

Frogspawn 36 

Game Law of New York 89 

General Remarks 77 

Glass in Troughs 22 

Qovcrmcnt aid required 10 

Gravel for Troughs 25 

Gravel, removing after a time 'i^ 

Growth of Fish 44 

Handling Fish 69 

Hard to keep Fry 40 

Hatching House 20 

Hatching House Diagram 19 

Hearing of Trout 58 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Helen 45 

How long a trout lives out of water. . . 68 

How one trout eats another 57 

How to tell Male from Female 60 

Ice House 91 

Ice in Ponds 52 

Implements of Fish Culture 25 

Impregnation by Hand 68 

Large flsh or small, best 45 

Large raceways for Ainsworth's Screens 75 

Laying out Ponds 13 

Lessons in Fish Culture 87 

Long Island Trout 45 

Machines for cutting Food 48 

Maggots for food 50 

Manipulation of Trout 69 

Manner of Impregnation 71 

Marks of Trout 47 

Measure for Eggs 26 

Microscope 26 

Mink, catching 57 

Mink, raising 58 

Moss for packing 31 

Muskrats 54 

Natural Food 37—49 

Natural Spawning 61 

Nest of Trout 63 

Nets 66 

Nippers 25 

Number of eggs given by Trout 65 

Number of Trout killed in handling.. 70 
Nm'sery 35 

Order of Topics 11 

Other fish with Trout 59 

Over feeding 51 

Packing Eggs 30 

Placing eggs in Trough 27 

Placing flsh in Streams 78 

Ponds freezing over 52 

Prices of Eggs and Fish 87 

Proportion of eggs hatched naturally. . 64 
Proportion of Males to Females 65 

Quantity of food required 51 

Quantity of milt to impregnate eggs. . 71 

Raceways 15 

Rats and mice in hatching house 30 

Rearing Boxes 35 

Removal of Fry .36 

Ripe eggs 69 

Roller Spawning Box 81 



Page. 

Sac on young trout 34 

Salmon hatched like trout 11 

Sawdust used in packing eggs 32 

Scales of Trout 67 

Screens, material of 17 

Screens, inclination of 17 

Season for Spawning 60 

Sediment 24 

Separating trout after Spawning 71 

Series of Ponds .' 13 

Shading Ponds 53 

Signs of Spawning 60 

Sizing Trout 59 

Snakes in Ponds 55 

Spring 23 

Spring, pipe into 24 

Spring water best 12 

Stealing Pish 56 

Stocking Ponds 77 

Stocking Streams 77 

Supply of water for given number of 

Trout 43 

Surface Drainage 13 

Taking eggs by Ainsworth's Screens.. 73 

Taking eggs by hand 66 

Tanks for carrying fish alive 91 

Temperature of water in Ponds 52 

Temperature of water in Troughs 29 

Time of Spawning 60 

Transfer of Fish 59 

Trasportation of Eggs 30 

Transportation of Fish 91 

Troughs for Hatching 21 

Trout Culture, why generally pursued. 11 

Trout eating their own kind 56 

Trout Ponds 12 

Diagram of 14 

Large or small 15 

Location 12 

Made by dams 12 

Shape 13 

With springy bottoms 16 

ITmbilical Sac 34 

Unpacking Eggs 28 

Unripe Eggs 69 

Washing Eggs 72 

Water supply 22 

Kind of water^ 18 

Temperature of water... 18 

Will it pay 78 

Windows in Hatching House 20 



TROUT CULTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 

Introductory Remarks. 



It is only lately that the culture of fish has claimed the 
attention of our people. The importance of the art has 
long been recognized abroad, but in our own country the 
government has been slow to move in the matter, although 
the supply offish food is daily decreasing. Still individual 
enterprise here will need no aid from government, except 
in the matter of stocking and protecting streams which an 
individual cannot control. The importance of fish as food, 
and their cheapness, render it a matter of great importance 
that the supply shall not be diminished, but very much in- 
creased. This can be done in no way so well and so quickly 
as by artificial breeding. By this means, fish can be raised 
as well as any other stock, and made so cheap that the 
poorest in our land can have abundance of good and nour- 
ishing food. I do not refer to Trout alone. The attention 
of individuals working for profit has naturally been given 
to the highest priced fish ; but the experience obtained in 
Trout raising will lead, and is even now leading, the way 
to the production of all other kinds. The time will come 
and come soon, when our rivers, lakes and streams will be 
abundantly stocked with those fish to which they are best 



10 FISH CULTURE. 



adapted. For the lakes, the Whitefish, Salmon Trout, 
Hernnir, P>lnok Bass and Wall-eyed Pike ; for the rivers, 
the Yellow Pike, Black Bass, Shad and Salmon ; for still 
and deep streams, the Bullhead or Catfish, the Perch and 
many other kinds of coarse fish ; for the swift mountain 
stream, the Trout. Even Gold Fish, which are a ^ood 
coarse pan fish, can be made to abound in all our rivers 
and bays. It has been proved beyond a doubt, that with 
very little care and expense these fish can be made to 
abound in all our waters. But this requires government 
aid, since individunls owning parts of streams will not hatch 
out fish there at their own expense for the benefit of all 
other owners of the stream. Besides this, special legisla- 
tion seems to be required to get fish-passes constructed 
over the numerous dams in our rivers and to prevent sub- 
stances destructive to the fish being thrown into our 
streams, such as saw-dust and the refuse of paper mills, tan- 
neries, dyeing establishments, &c., &c. 

But if with comparatively little care and expense our 
great rivers can be stocked, in the meanwhile there is room 
enough for private enterprise. There are few farmers in 
our country who do not have upon their land a lake, or 
spring, or clear running''stream. If these men knew how 
easily they could turn this water to profit, not only by 
raising food supply for themselves, but a supply for the 
city and village market, there would soon be very few 
waters without their finny inhabitants. How much this 
would add to the wealth of the country any one can see at 
a glance. Of course this art, like any other, demands study 
and practice. But we do not hesitate to say that at the 
present time an acre of water can be made to pay far more 
than an acre of land. It is with difliculty that I refrain from 
saying more about the importance of fish culture in general. 
It is an art in which I am deeply interested. But as this 



OEDEK OF TOPICS. 11 



book has a special subject, it would perhaps be out of place 
to say more about it now. 

Trout raising is that branch of Fish Culture most gener- 
ally pursued at the present time. There are several rea- 
sons for this — it is the best understood, one of the easiest to 
practice, and the fish bring the highest price. In this trea- 
tise we will try to commence where a person who wishes 
to raise Trout would naturally require information. The 
situation and laying out of Ponds will first be described, 
and as those who start in the business generally buy or 
otherwise obtain impregnated eggs, they will be told what 
to do with the eggs, then how to keep the young Trout 
raised from them. Afterward we will speak of the adult 
Trout and of the process of taking eggs from them for other 
crops. 

This book gives only a description of the method of rais- 
ing Trout, but Salmon, Salmon Trout and Whitefish may 
be hatched in the same way and with the same apparatus. 
Perhaps at some future time the author may give to the 
public a book on the culture of other Fish. 



CHAPTER II. 

Trout Ponds. 

Location. — It is very easy with good spring water to raise 
a feto trout anywliere in temperate latitudes. But to raise 
a large number requires care in the selection of a location. 
Plenty of pure spring water is the first and most essential 
requisite. The spring, or one of the springs, if there are 
several, should have a fall of two or three feet, and a fall 
of live to ten feet of the whole volume of water is deci- 
dedly advantageous. If the supply of water is very large, 
it diminishes the necessity of a fall. The water from a 
spring remains (near its source) at nearly the same temper- 
ature during the whole year, and is the best for Trout rais- 
ing. The water from a brook which does not rise higher 
than sixty -five degrees in summer, may be used to supply 
ponds for adult Trout ; but spring water is absolutely ne- 
cessary for hatching purposes. It is not a good plan to dam 
up a stream which varies in volume, and so make ponds. 
There should be enough level land by the side of such a 
stream to inake ponds supplied by the stream ; and it is 
best to have a stream much greater in volume than is ne- 
cessary for the ponds, so that there will always be a good 
supply of water, and will be no trouble with the surplus 
water after a freshet. The reasons for these and other 
essentials will, it is hoped, be found in the following pages. 
A good knowledge of the whole system of Trout Culture is 
essential in choosing the very best location. It is best to 
have your ponds near your house, or have a man in charge 
living at the ponds. Of course your Trout may never be 



LAYING OUT PONDS. 13 

molested, but " an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 
cure." • 

Laying Out Ponds. — The diagram on page 14, represents 
a series of ponds, in all of which the same water is used. 
This plan is generally considered the best, for several rea- 
sons. It economizes the water and space, and is most con- 
venient for changing the fish from one pond to another. It 
is not necessary that the ponds should be in a straight line. 
Where the location demands it they may be turned so as to 
lie in a direction nearly or quite parallel with one another. 
This is easily done by bending the raceways, and length- 
ening them if necessary, only a curved raceway is some- 
times not so convenient as if it was straight. The sides of 
the ponds may be walled up with stones, laid without mor- 
tar, unless the soil is very sandy. Wood may be better for 
the sides and bottoms, but we are inclined to think is not 
worth its expense. If the sides of the ponds are laid up 
with mortar, let it dry thoroughly before letting the water 
in ; then let the water run through it two or three weeks, 
or just long enough to purify the pond before putting any 
fish in it. It is as well to test it by putting in only a few 
fish at first ; if the pond is not thoroughly purified the fish 
in it will turn blind. Ponds should not be built where 
much surface diainage will run into them ; if they are so 
exposed the surface water should be carried off by a ditch. 
The Second and Third Ponds should receive an additional 
supply of water. The reason for this will be given further 
on. A general idea of the form and size of ponds can be 
gathered from the diagram without further ^explanation. 
If the supply of water is small, it is best to have as much 
fall between the ponds as the nature of the ground will 
allow. This fall aerates the water and makes it as good as 
new. 

Shape of Ponds, &c. — Where the supply of water is 
large it matters very little about the shape of ponds. The 



14 



DIAGRAM OF PONDS. 



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HATCHING HOUSE | 



Spring running 
8 or 10 gallons 
per minute. 



SLOTS EOR NET . 



SLOTS FOR NET. 



CREEN 
—DEPTH ein. 

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SCREEN f, FflLl or 2T! 



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^pummc RACE 




SHAPE OF PONDS, <feC. 15 

best shape we believe to be the pear-shape, figured in the 
plate ; such a shape combining an equable flow of water • 
in all directions and the greatest amount of surface, with 
the least diflerence in the temperature of the water. If 
the nature of the ground demands other shapes, the ponds 
should be made long, narrow and deep, rather than broad 
and shallow. The depth of the pond is indicated in the 
plate, and will answer for any size of ponds. It is better 
for any one wishing to raise a large number of fish, to have 
several series of ponds, than to attempt raising a larger 
number by increasing the size of the ponds. Eish do not 
feed so well in large ponds, are not so easily taken care of, 
and eat each other more. 

Raceways. — The Second and Third ponds should have 
a long, narrow raceway where the water enters — about 
thirty or forty feet long, four feet wide and six inches deep. 
The sides of the raceway should be made of one and a half 
inch plank, one foot in width. This will answer for both 
natural and artificial impregnation. The raceway is re- 
quired not only for the purpose of spawning, but as a resort 
for the fish at all seasons of the year. Fish will go into 
this shallow graveled race, into the quick running water, 
to free themselves from the parasites which often trouble 
them ; or they will go there if they are out of health and 
condition from any cause. This raceway must be filled 
with coarse gravel, and the bottom of the pond made to 
slope gently up to the raceway. 

The head of the raceway is to be carefully looked after. 
If a series of ponds are made, then the screens between 
will keep the fish from running one to the other ; but if 
single ponds are used, each supplied with separate water 
from a stream, then much attention must be paid to the 
screens where the water enters. It would be well if the 
water was brought into the pond through a long box, as 



16 EACEWATS — BOTTOM OF PONDS. 

tlie water will very soon work around or under a short 
box, and allow the libh to escape. If the water enters with 
a fall, it may be allowed to pour over upon an apron, con- 
structed of thin slats, one-half or one-quarter of an inch 
apart, and set edgeways. This will let the water through 
and keep the fish from running up. Trout will run up 
stream very freely, ' working their way through a small 
passage, but will not try very much to run down stream. 

Bottom of Ponds. — It matters very little of what ma- 
terial the bottom is composed. Anything — mud, clay or 
moss is good, except gravel, and this is bad, not from the na- 
ture of the substance, but because the fish will spawn on 
it and the eggs be lost. Sometimes a person will wish to 
construct a pond in a place where there are springs, or to 
dam up the water and make a pond in a springy place. 
Under such circumstances it is a good plan to fill the bot- 
tom entirely with gravel, as the fish would spawn there in 
any case. For such a pond make the borders very shal- 
low, so that the little fish may run up into the shallow 
water and escape from the large fish ; or have the pond so 
arranged that after the fish have spawned they may be 
removed. Thus the eggs will hatch out and the little ones 
grow without danger. When the next season of spawning 
conies the little fish may be removed into another pond 
and the old ones let in again to spawn. Such a pond is 
good for any one wishing his establishment to run itsell", as 
with a little care he can raise many fish in it without much 
trouble. Very often the bottom of a pond is porus and 
absorbs the water as fast as it runs in, so that there is 
hardly any running from the proper outlet. If you are 
short of water and wish to use all you can get for another 
pond, it is best to cement the bottom. If you have no fur- 
ther use for the water, it makes no difterence bow it goes 
otf, that is if there are no holes in the bottom large enough 



BOTTOM OF PONDS — SCBEEN8. 17 

to let the fish escape, and the water keeps up to its proper 
level. Weeds or mosses of any sort are not necessary at 
the bottom, and if the supply ot water is not large they 
will speedily become a nuisance. The quantity of Trout 
food which they will produce is of no account in an artifi- 
cial pond where large numbers of Trout are kept, and they 
tend to foul the water by hiding dead fish, bits of meat, 
&c. &c. It is best, if possible, to have ponds so arranged 
that they can be entirely drained. This is necessary, some- 
times, for cleaning or repairing the ponds, changing the fish 
from one pond in to another, &c. If the slope of the ground 
is sulficient to permit of such an arrangement, it will often 
save much labor in pumping or bailing. The drain pipe 
may be of pump logs, tile or pipe of any kind, and should 
be fixed in the lowest part of the bottom, or as near it as 
the level of the ground will allow. Still better would be a 
regular fiume reaching from the bottom of the pond to the 
top. A bulkhead may be put in to raise the water as high 
as may be required, and a screen the whole size of the 
flume set in front. Ihis large screen would be an addi- 
tional advantage, as the larger the screen the less liable it 
is to clog up with leaves, moss, &c., and the greater will be 
the volume of water passing through. 

Screens. — Screens may be made of common wire painted 
or tarred, of copper wire, or of galvanized iron wire. The 
last is the best, as it will last longest in proportion to its 
cost. The screens for keeping the small fry should be of 
fourteen threads to the inch ; for one year old fish five or 
six threads to the inch ; for two year olds four threads to 
the inch, and for three year olds three threads to the inch. 
Incline the screens to an angle of forty-five degrees, the 
top being farthest down stream. By inclining the screens 
in this manner a greater surface is exposed to the water 
than if they were placed perpendicularly. The sockets 



18 WATER SUPPLY. 



should be made so that the screens will fit tightly and yet 
be easily taken out to clean. 

A very good screen for two and three year olds can be 
made from strips of lath planed and nailed to a strong 
frame, with quarter-inch openings between them. 

Water Supply. — It is immaterial what kind of water is 
used, whether hard or soft. Neither will so-called " min- 
eral water " hurt the Trout unless the water is very strongly 
impregnated. Trout have been known to live and thrive 
in a stream one-sixth of whose volume was supplied by a 
strong sulphur spring. Still the purest water is the best. 
The essentials are that the stream shall be reasonably pure, 
the volume of water nearly uniform, or so arranged that 
the supply taken from it is uniform and the temperature 
between thirty-six and sixty-five degrees. 

The supply of water necessary for a given number of 
Trout is yet unsettled. For a series of ponds turning out 
one thousand large fish yearly, the water supply should fill 
a four-inch pipe. This question will be treated more at 
length in Chapter VI. 



PLAN OF A HATCHING HOUSE. 



19 



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E F 

PLAN OF A HATCHING HOUSE. 

Size 24 by 32 feet. Scale \ inch to a foot. 

A. — Inlet of Spring, 5 square inches. 

B.— Filter, 6 feet by lixl^. 

C. — Distributing Trough, 5x5 inches. 

D. — Troughs, 20 feet by 18 inches. 

E. — Outlet of surplus water from Distributing Trough. 

F. — Outlet of water from Hatching Troughs. 



CHAPTER III. 
« 

Hatching House. 

Size and Make. — If only a few eggs are to be liatclied 
(say eight or ten thousand) no hatching house is necessary. 
The troughs may be placed in the open air, in any conven- 
ient place, and covered with a wire screen to keep out rats, 
mice and ducks. A light board cover must then be laid 
over them to shed the rain and snow and keep the eggs 
from exposure to the sunlight. A hatching house is much 
more comfortable to work in. A stove may be put in it 
and a tire started occasionally for warming one's fingers, 
&c., but it is not needed for hatching purposes, as spring 
water in these latitudes is warm enough. In our hatching 
house at Caledonia we run all the waste water into a large 
tank under the house, and as our water stands between 
forty-five and fifty degrees, even in the coldest weather, we 
find that the hatcliing house is a very comfortable place 
to work in without fire, though the thermometer outside 
points to zero. The house may be constructed of rough 
boards, or as expensive as you choose, but care should be 
taken to have a water-tight roof, as drops of water leaking 
through and falling into the troughs will kill the eggs un- 
derneath. Its size must be regulated by the number and 
extent of the troughs. 

The windows in a hatching house should be few in num- 
ber and provided with curtains or shutters, as the sun 
shining upon the spawn will kill it. We do not mean that 
a few minutes exposure to the rays of the sun will hurt the 



TROUGHS. 21 



e^gs, but a few hours exposure certainly will. Perhaps it 
would be well to have the windows, if possible, made on 
the north side of the hatching house, into which the sun 
will not shine in the winter season. Keep the hatching 
house clean. In fact, cleanliness is one of the cardinal vir- 
tues to the Trout raiser. He should have a clean house, 
should work with clean hands, and have all his pans, 
spoons and utensils of every sort free from grease and dirt. 

Tkotjghs.— These should be made of seasoned timber, 
one and a half inches thick. They should be six inches 
deep and about fifteen inches wide, inside measurement. 
It would be better, perhaps, if the troughs were eight or 
nine inches deep, because then the water could be raised 
higher over the young Trout after they are hatched out. 
The difficulty in making them so deep is that when the 
sides of the trough are made so wide they are apt to warp 
or stretch apart at the top, and must be stayed in some 
way ; for instance, by strips nailed across. But the cleaner 
the trough is of all strips, elbows or grooves the better. 
The troughs are divided into squares or nests by cross 
strips set on the bottom at intervals of eighteen inches. 
The reason for this division into nests and tor these cross 
strips will be seen further on. These strips may be made 
of half-inch stuff and cut two inches in width. There is 
no necessity for nailing them to the bottom ; fit them in 
accurately and set them edgeways at intervals of eighteen 
inches. As they do not need to be removed often, it is 
better to make them fit tightly. Other strips of the same 
stuff must be provided, to fit upon these and made wide 
enough to raise the water within a half inch of the top of 
the trough. As these need to be often moved, they must 
be made loose enough to take out, and yet fit accurately 
enough to raise the water over them when they are put in. 
A groove is sometimes made in which to run the strips, or 



.22 TROUGHS — WATER SUPPLY. 

shoulders nailed to the sides against wliich to set them. 
We do not recommend cither of these, as it interferes with 
the equable flow of the water. New wood under the action 
of water develops a slimy sap, therefore it would be well 
to line the bottom and sides of the trough with glass. The 
troughs should have an inclination of about one inch in 
eight feet — just enough to let the water ripple gently over 
the cross strips. They should not be longer than twenty 
feet, or the air on the water will be exhausted before the 
water reaches the end of the trough. There is more dan- 
ger of this after the eggs are hatched out and the troughs 
are full of young fish. This method is that which we pur- 
sue and have found most successful in practice. There are 
many other methods, all of course depending upon the same 
general principles, but we give only that one which we 
consider best. If possible the hatching house should be so 
far below the level of the spring from which its supply of 
water is derived, as to allow the troughs to be raised two 
or three feet from the floor. Where a large number of 
eggs are to be hatched, the inconvenience of stooping to 
care for them is very great. 

Water Supply. — From the filter the water runs into 
the distributing trough or pipe, which runs along the head 
of all the hatching troughs. The water may be let into 
the hatching troughs by faucets, or through holes cut into 
the trough. These holes should be covered with netting, 
or the young fish will run up out of the troughs into the 
filter, or coarse gravel may be heaped up at the head of the 
trough through which the water will run, but through 
which the young fish cannot work their way. The supply 
of water for one trough should be equal to that coming 
through a half-inch hole with three inches head ; just 
enough to make a gentle ripple over the cross-pieces. Be 
careful to get the troughs level crossways, and the strips 



WATER SUPPLY FILTER. 23 

trite, so that when the water is running it will form an 
equal current over every part of each strip along the whole 
length of the trough. If the water runs unevenly the eggs 
will be washed into a heap, and many of them spoiled for 
lack of a proper circulation of water around them. This 
supply of water will be sufficient until the eggs are hatched 
out, when a somewhat larger supply can be allowed. The 
water should be brought directly from the spring in a pipe 
of some kind, in order to preserve the proper temperature 
and keep the water as free from sediment as possible ; and 
for the same reason the spring should be walled up to its 
smallest possible dimensions. If any surface water natu- 
rally runs into the spring, a ditch should be dug around 
the spring to lead it off. If the muddy surface water is 
suffered to run into the spring which supplies the troughs, 
the screens will very soon be choked up, and the sediment 
will find its way into the troughs in spite of all precautions 
and destroy the eggs. 

Filter. — The filter is a box six feet long by one and a 
half feet wide and one and one-half feet deep ; in which 
four or five flannel screens can be placed through which 
to filter the water before it passes into the troughs. The 
eoarsest and cheapest red flannel is the best. It will rot 
and must be renewed once or twice in a season. Eed 
flannel will last twice as long as any other. The flannel 
should be tacked on to frames running in grooves set at 
an angle of forty-five degrees, (the top down stream) so as 
to expose as much surface as possible to the water. If the 
hatching house is small, the filter may be placed outside, 
but is better under cover. If the spring is well protected 
the screens will not need cleaning very frequently. They 
should be cleaned as soon as they look dirty, however often 
that may be, and can be cleaned best by being taken out 
and washed with a soft brush. 



24 FILTER. 

Sediment destroys the eggs by suffocating tliera. Gravel 
is put into the troughs in order to support the eggs at the 
fewest possible points, and let the water touch as much of 
the surface of the egg as possible. Sediment falling on the 
egg keeps the water off and destroys its life as effectually 
as being buried in the ground would destroy a man's life. 
If sediment falls upon the eggs it may be removed by 
gently agitating the eggs with a feather, or better still, 
by creating a current in the water with a feather, which 
current the eggs will follow, and as they roll over, the sed- 
iment will drop off. But the Trout breeder has no business 
to be troubled in tliis way. If his apparatus is constructed 
right, and his filter properly attended to, there will not be 
sediment enouo;h in the troug-hs to hurt the ejrfirs, from the 
time they are put in until the fish are hatched out. The 
pipe which is let into the spring should have wire netting 
around it where the water comes in, to keep out impuri- 
ties. This netting should be spread out so as to give a 
greater surface than the mouth of the pipe. If the net- 
ting covers only the mouth of the pipe, every speck of dirt 
which lodges on the netting diminishes by so much the 
supply of water ; but if the surface of the netting is in- 
creased, much of it. may be stopped up with dust without 
lessening the supply of water. The best way is to take a 
board, say one foot square for each inch of diameter of the 
pipe, and run the pipe through a hole in the middle of the 
board, fitting it well ; then nail netting on the edges ot 
the board, so as to bulge it out in a half globe form. This 
should be looked after occasionally, but if the spring is 
closely walled up, and the netting placed beneath the sur- 
face of the water, it will not probably need cleaning 
through the season. 

Gravel for Troughs.. — The gravel for the troughs 
should be quite fine — about the size of peas. It is better 



GRAVEL FOE TROUGHS IMPLEMENTS. 25 

to have it of a Tiniform size. Any kind of gravel is good 
wbieh is free from iron rust, as that kills the fish. If the 
gravel is of some dark tint, the dead eggs, which turn milk 
white, will show very plainly upon it, and may easily be 
picked out. The gravel should be well washed before use, 
and we would even recommend boiling it, to destroy any 
eggs of insects which may be adhering to it. After the 
nests are lined with glass the gravel may be put in, one 
and one-half inches deep, which will bring it within one- 
half inch of the top of the cross-piece. 

Implements. — The implements of the fish-culturist are 
few and simple. A few feathers may be kept on hand to 
use in spreading the eggs when placing them in the troughs, 
in collecting them for packing, and moving them in the 
search after dead eggs. Several plans are in use for re- 
moving dead eggs from the trough. Some use a siphon to 
draw them up ; others bend wire into the shape of a small 
spoon, or bend an eye upon the wire just large enough to 
hold the egg. We recommend the use of nippers. These 
may be made of wire bent into the shape of the letter U, 
and flattened at the ends so that the extremities may be 
about the eighth of an jnch wide ; round ofi* the corners. 
The length of the nippers should be 6 or 8 inches. A bet- 
ter one may be made of double wire, same shape, with a 
small loop in each end. These will hold the egg without 
trouble. A small homcepathic phial is used to examine the 
eggs. The manner of its use is to fill it with water, put in 
the eggs to be examined, cork it, hold it up before the win- 
dow in a horizontal position, and with your microscope 
look up through the side of the phial. This brings the 
egg which lies at the bottom of the glass within the focus 
of the microscope, and the water does not distort its shape. 
This seems to be a very simple thing, and hardly worth 
telling, but of the hundreds who have tried to examine 
3. 



26 rMPLEMENTS. 



eg<(s in our liatching house, not a half dozen got it right 
until told liow to do it. The microscope need not be very 
strong; one magnitjing eight or ten diameters is amply 
sufficient. A small net will be of use in removing the 
young fish from the troughs ; it should be about 6 inches 
in diameter, in the shape of the letter D, with the handle 
on the middle of the bend. It is very easily made by bend- 
ing a wire in the desired shape, and twisting the two ends 
togetlier for a handle. Thin gauze of some kind should be 
spread over the wire so tightly that the middle of the net 
shall hang onl^- a half inch below the level. An iron spoon, 
well tinned or silvered, is used to remove the eggs. Some 
six-quart tin milk-pans wnll be necessary, for a variety of 
purposes. Eggs may be counted most easily by measuring 
them. For this purpose take any small glass, such as a 
very small tumbler, for instance, count out 500 or a 1,000 
eggs, and with a file make a mark upon the glass as high 
as they reach, and the measure is always ready to your 
hand. 



Chapter IV. 

Treatment of Eggs. 

Placing Eggs in the Troughs. — The eggs of a Trout 
are about one-sixth of an inch in diameter, and nearly 
round. Thej^ are generally ol a light straw or salmon 
color. The color varies with the meat of the fish. The 
redder the meat, the more orange colored are the eggs. 
They are generally of a light yellow or amber color at first, 
and grow darker as the egg grows older. Their s])ecific 
gravity is a little greater than that of water, so that they 
will sink in water, but ma}^ be easily moved in it. Sup- 
pose the eggs to be obtained and that yon have them in a 
shallow pan. The water in the troughs should be raised 
by placing a narrow strip across the trongh upon one of 
the two inch strips dividing the nests. (See pages 19 & 21.) 
Then sink the pan gently to the edge in the water of the 
trough, at the same time tipping the pan, so that the water 
in the trough and in the pan shall come together with as 
little current as possible. Then the edge of the pan may 
be sunk into the water, and by tipping the pan a little 
more, the eggs will flow out without injury By moving 
the pan while the eggs are running out, they may be spread 
uniformly over the bottom. If they fall in a heap, take 
the bearded end of a feather, and move the water with it 
in the direction you wish the eggs to go, and they will fol- 
low the current thus created. This may be done without 
touching the eggs with the feather. Distribute the eggs 
as evenly as possible over the surface of the nest. 



28 TREATMENT OF E0G8. 



The strip which was placed across the troiich to raise the 
water sliould then be removed. Care must be taken that 
it be not removed so suddenly as to cause a rush of water, 
which would carry most of the eggs away with it. Raise 
the strip a little way from the bottom so as to let the 
water run out gradually, and when it is ver}'^ nearly or 
altogether at the proper level, the strip may be removed 
entirely. Those who have a nursery attached to the 
troughs place the earliest eggs in the lower end of the 
trough, and keep placing them toward the top, so that 
the fish which are first hatched can run first into the 
nursery without disturbing the others. We practice pla- 
cing the eggs in the highest end of the trough first, because 
the eggs earliest placed, hatch out first, and the water 
should be raised over them. If these first should be placed 
at the lower end of the trough, in order to do this the 
water must be raised over all the eggs, if at the begin- 
ning, by placing strips upon the nests in succession as 
the eggs hatch out, the water is left running upon the 
the unhatched eggs as usual. About five hundred may be 
placed in each nest eighteen inches by fifteen inches. This 
requires a word of explanation. Ten thousand or even 
twenty thousand, could be placed in a nest of the same 
size and would hatch out. In our own establishment we 
place as many as ten or fifteen thousand in each square. 
But as we wish the fish to live in the troughs a few 
months after hatching, we must reduce the number, and 
by taking out the eggs for sale we leave only five hundred 
or one thousand in each square. The philosophy of the 
thing is simply that the eggs require much less ox^-gen than 
the fish. 

If the eggs are received from a Trout breeder, they should 
be left as received until the troughs are ready for them. It 
has sometimes occurred that the persons to whom we sent 



TEMPER ATUKE OF WATER. 29 

eggs, took the tin boxes out of the saw-dust in which they 
were packed, and set them in the water of their troughs, 
with the idea perhaps of getting the eggs in the box to the 
same temperature as the water in the troughs before un- 
packing them. This will surely kill the eggs in a few 
hours. Leave them in the original package until a few 
hours before you are ready to place them in the troughs. 
Then take out the tins and set them over or near the 
troughs, which will reduce or raise the temperature enough. 
Then empty the box into a tin pan full of water taken from 
the trough, pick out as much moss as you can readily with 
your fingers or nippers, and wash off the nest in the man- 
ner shown in directions for washing eggs in chapter VII. 

If the eggs have had decent treatment on the way, that 
is not thrown about roughly or set near a red hot stove, 
you should hnd very few dead eggs in the boxes, not more 
than ten or twelve in one thousand. Should the eggs be 
found, on opening the box, run together in lumps instead 
of being evenly distributed, and turned to a dead white or 
milky color, it shows rough usage on the way, and does not 
necessarily show that the eggs were not impregnated or in 
good order when sent. 

Temperature of Water and Time of Incubation. — The 
length of time required to hatch out the eggs depends upon 
the temperature of the water. A general rule sufficiently 
accurate for all practical purposes is this : At fifty degrees 
the eggs will hatch out in fifty days, each degree colder 
takes five days longer, and each degree warmer five days 
less. The difference however increasing as the temperature 
falls and diminishing as it rises. The best temperature 
for hatching is between forty-five and fifty-three degrees. 
We are inclined to believe that the fish hatched at a temper- 
ature of about forty-five degrees and taking from seventy 
to seventy-five days to hatch, are stronger and longer lived, 



30 GROWTH OF EGGS, AC. 

tlian those hatched in fifty days at fifty degrees. It may 
be well, also, to note that the eggs earliest taken will pro- 
duce the best fish. The water of a spring can be reduced 
in temperature in winter b}^ letting it run for a short dis- 
tance exposed to the open air. 

Growth of Eggs, &c. — A.bout the twentieth day, the 
young fish can be plainly observed in the egg. Put a few 
eggs in a small vial and with a magnifying glass the form- 
ation of the fish can easily be seen. Fish farmers send the 
eggs away at this time. Some of the eggs are not impreg- 
nated and at this stage of growth may easily be distin- 
guished from the others as no fish forms in them. The 
dead eggs will turn to a milk or pearl white color, and 
should be removed with the nippers as fast as they are dis- 
covered. If left in the trough a fungus growth forms 
upon them which extends to other eggs in the immediate 
vicinity and kills them. Care should be taken in using 
nippers, not to hurt the other eggs ; a very slight blow or 
jam from the nippers will be sufficient to destroy their 
vitality. Rats and mice in the hatching house often des- 
troy man}' eggs ; they are very fond of them and going into 
the troughs to get them they will destroy with their feet 
many more than they eat. A wire screen laid over the 
troughs will keep them out, but it is a much cheaper and 
just as aifectual a way to keep them down by traps or 
poison. The eggs should be feathered over occasionally 
so that their whole surface may be exposed to the action 
of the water. 

Transportation of Eggs. — We pack eggs in round tin 
boxes, about three inches wide and two and one half inches 
deep; a few small holes are punched in the bottom to let 
the water run off, as water left in the box will kill the 
eggs. Specimens of eggs from different parts of the square 
are first examined with the microscope to see if a good per 



TEANSPOKTATION OF EGGS. 31 

centage is impregnated. If they are all right a six quart 
pan is filled with water to the height of the box in which 
the eggs are to be packed. The bottom of the box is then 
filled with moss, and the box placed in the pan and filled 
with water. The moss which we nse is that which grows 
on stones and timbers, in wet places, such as the stones in a 
brook, or the timbers of an old dam. It may be collected 
and kept all winter in a damp place in the hatching-honse. 
The bottom of the tin is filled with a piece of this moss, 
(roots downward,) somewhat depressed in the middle, so 
that the eggs shall not touch the sides of the box, the 
moss having previously been well washed to free it from 
dirt and insects. The rest of the moss to be used in pack- 
ing must undergo a little more preparation. The green 
fibres must be cut with a pair of scissors from the roots. 
Only the green, soft and living fibres are used, and the 
roots, stems and dead leaves thrown away as useless. This 
fine moss must then be washed thoroughly. A very con- 
venient way is to nail wire netting over the open bottom 
of an old soap box. Cut the moss into this, and dipping 
it into water, wash thoroughly. By simply lifting your 
box out of the water, you drain the moss. The eggs are 
then taken out of the trough, by being brushed with a 
feather into a spoon. If you wish to number them, fill 
your glass measure with water, and turn the contents of 
the spoon into it. When the five hundred or thousand 
eggs are measured, pour them into a ladle (small enough 
to go inside of the packing box), having previously filled 
the ladle with water; then sink the ladle beneath the 
water in the packing box, and by gent y tipping and shak- 
ing it the eggs will fall to the bottom of the box, where 
they may be spread evenly over the moss with a feather. 
A layer of prepared moss must then be lightly laid over 
the eggs, (don't take the box out of the water,) and another 
five hundred or thousand eggs put in. Then fill the box 



n 



32 TKANSPORTATION OF EGGS. 

with same kind of moss, take it out of the water, and leave 
it a little while, so that the water may drain off through 
the holes in the bottom, and the damp, spongy moss be 
left, an elastic and life-giving cushion to keep the eggs 
from feeling sudden jolts on the journey, and to supply 
them with oxgen. When the water is all drained off, the 
covers are to be placed on the boxes, and tied on with pack 
thread. If in any of these operations the box of eggs 
should fall out of your hands to the floor, it would prob- 
ably kill nearly every egg. The tin boxes are to be packed 
in saw dust in a box or tin pail, the saw dust being first 
very slightly dampened. We generally pack our eggs in 
a tin pail, so that the expressmen may lift it by the handle 
and set it down lightly, and not be tempted by the light 
weight of a square box to pitch it pell-mell into the car, 
and destroy every egg in it. The saw dust should cover 
the boxes to the depth of an inch, at least ; then, if they 
are not exposed to a freezing temperature, nor to a hot 
fire, and receive moderately decent treatment, they will 
go safely thousands of miles. We have sent them safely 
beyond the liocky Mountains, to California, to England, 
and to France. We liave packed eggs in such a box when 
they were first taken from the fish, and keeping it at the 
same temperature as the water in the troughs have left it, 
until eggs taken at the same time, and placed in the 
troughs, were hatching out ; and then, opening the box, 
have found that some of the fish had already appeared, 
others were just breaking the shells, and all the impreg- 
nated eggs were alive, and in good condition. Of course 
the young fish would not live in the moss, but would die 
as soon as they appeared. We do not mention this as a 
new method of hatching eggs, but to show how perfect 
the means is of sending them. The eggs in the box should 
be spread as thinly and evenly through the box as possible, 
taking care that none of them touch the sides of the box, 



TKANSPORTATION OF EGGS. 33 

and the moss packed in well (not tightly) to keep them in 
place. If this is not done the recipient of the eggs will 
sometimes find them, after a long journey, jolted together 
into a solid mass, and spoiled. Use clean, bright tin 
boxes, which are free from iron rust. 



CHAPTER V. 

Young Trout. 

Appearance. — xVfter the e^gs have laid in the water 
from fifty to seventy-five days, according to the tempera- 
ture, the Trout will begin to make their appearance, the 
egg ajipears to be endowed with life, and the motions of 
the Trout inside " kicking" against the shell to force their 
way out can be plainly' perceived without the assistance of 
a microscope. At length the Trout forces his way through, 
head first, or tail first, which ever may happen to be most 
convenient, and the useless shell floats away down stream. 
The Trout is then about one-half inch long, and the body 
proper as thin as a needle ; the most prominent features 
being a pair of eyes, huge in comparison with that of the 
body, and a sac nearly as large as the egg. This sac is 
attached to the belly of the fish, and contains food, which 
the fish gradually absorbs. If the fish are hatched in fifty 
days the sac lasts about thirty, if in seventy days, about 
forty-five. At this period of their lives they will work 
down into the crevices of the gravel and along the sides 
of the troughs and stay there, nature seeming to give them 
the instinct, at this weak and defenceless period of their 
lives, when they are burdened with a load which they can 
hardly carry, to get out of sight and out of the way of harm 
as much as possible. At this stage of their growth many 
curious deformities appear, more interesting perhaps to the 
physiologist than to the Trout culturist. ISome of the fry 
will have two heads, and some will be united after the 
manner of the ISiamese Twins. A very common deformity 



NUESEKT. 35 



is a crook or bend in the Trout, giving it a semi-circular 
form, so that when it attempts to swim it can only progress 
in small circles. All those deformed soon die, and may as 
well be removed from the trough at once, unless you wish 
to keep them as curiosities. They live as long as the sac 
supplies them with food ; when the sac is exhausted they 
cannot swim about much to get food, and die of starvation. 

The glass which lines the bottom and sides of the trough 
should lie closely. If there are any openings, numbers 
of the fry will wedge themselves in and die. As the sac 
disappears the young fish get larger and stronger. When 
it is nearly or entirely gone they will begin to rise from the 
bottom,' swim about and forage for food. 

NuESERY. — The most critical period in the life of a Trout 
has now arrived. More, perhaps, die from the time they 
begin to feed until they are six months old than at any 
other time. In consequence many different plans for nur- 
series have been suggested and used. We give that which 
we have found the most successful. In place of erecting 
other and wider troughs or boxes for nurseries, the better 
plan is to put only a few eggs, say five hundred, into each 
square or nest of the hatching trough. The square is then 
large enough (with the water raised) to keep the Trout 
well for a month or two after they commence feeding, and 
then transfer them into the first pond. This plan econo- 
mizes space, saves one removal, and the fish do better after 
a month or two in the ponds than they would in troughs 
or rearing boxes. It is probably better to remove the 
gravel from the troughs as soon as the fish commence feed- 
ing, because then the troughs can be kept clean more 
easily, else particles of food will lodge in the gravel, where 
they cannot be removed. If the water has been well filtered 
and the fiannel screens well looked after, there will not be 
sediment enough, in the troughs to require cleaning until 



36 NURSERY. 



the end of tlie season. The water must be raised by the 
cross-strip before mentioned as soon as the eggs hatch out. 
It would be well to fix a small screen in each alternate cross- 
strip, which can be done by cutting out a space of eight 
inches by two, and nailing a fine screen over the orifice. 
This will prevent the Trout from running up and down in 
the troughs, and inconveniently crowding together. The 
fry are removed from the troughs into the pond by the use 
of a small net, such as described among the implements of 
the fisli raiser. Take them upon this, a few at a time, and 
put them in a pan of water ; they will swim oil the net and 
you may draw it from under them. In the pan they may 
be carried, a thousand at a time, to the pond in which you 
wish to place them. Put them into still water ; they will 
settle down on the bottom and remain there for some 
hours ; then they begin to explore their new quarters, and 
in a few days will become thoroughly habituated to the 
place. The pond should be covered over almost entirely 
with boards ; this for two reasons : First, to ayoid the 
fungus growth which will form in summer in the ponds 
wherever the sunlight comes. We mean the long, green 
fibres of moss which rise from the bottom of the pond, and 
which in this locality are called " frog spittle." On a bright 
sunny day this becomes detached from the bottom, and 
rising to the top of the water floats down with the current 
and clogs the screens ; besides it fills up the pond so that 
the food which is thrown in sinks down into it — the fish 
cannot get at it, and decaying on the bottom it fouls the 
water ot the pond. Second, because the fish require a 
shelter in stormy or cloudy weather. In their natural state 
we see young fish feeding on the shallows under the bright- 
est sun ; but in cloudy weather not one is to be seen — they 
have sought shelter under stones, weeds, &c. IStill the 
fish require sunlight, and enough should be given to keep 
them in good condition. The board covers are also inci- 



FOOD. 37 

dentally useful in keeping down the temperature of the 
pond. This is apt to rise in hot weather, as much water 
cannot be let into the pond at first for fear of washing the 
young and weak fish against the screens by the force of the 
current. More water must be let in as the fish grow older 
and stronger. 

Food. — Any food of an animal nature which can be mi- 
Dutely and uniformly divided, will serve as food for the 
young Trout. Liver can be boiled and grated, or raw liver 
can be chopped up with an old razor very fine and then fed 
to the young fish drop by drop. The yolk of an egg boiled 
hard and grated makes a good food ; but in our experience 
the best food is thick milk or bonny clabber, which can 
easily be strained through a coarse cloth and thus reduced 
to atoms. It is not material about removing all the whey, 
as the water will wash it off, and it does not hurt the fish ; 
dilute with one-half or two-thirds water. A half tea-cup 
full of this mixture will feed a hundred thousand fish when 
they first begin to feed. The best way to feed them is to 
take a case-knife, dip it in the feed and slirt of£ the food 
which adheres in to the troughs ; a very simple way, but 
one answering all practical purposes. Care should be taken 
not to feed too much, else the surplus food will remain on 
the bottom, and decaying there foul the trough. The rea- 
son of the difficulty in raising young fish appears to be 
that they are literally starved to death. The food which 
we can give them is not natural to them, and it is often 
given in such coarse pieces that they cannot take it, and 
sometimes, through the carelessness of a hired hand, they 
are neglected two or three days at a time. The question 
will very naturally be asked, " Is it not possible to obtain 
their natural food ? " We answer, yes, in small quantities. 
The moss and weeds in every stream are full of it, and by 
placing in the troughs fresh moss and weeds gathered from 



38 FOOD. 

the stream every day, the young fish may be fed. But 
this is not practicable. With a large number of fish it 
makes too much work. It would soon foul the troughs 
and cause the fish to die, and then, if the young fish are 
fed on this at first, they will not take the artificial food 
afterward. Trout, of any age, learn to eat that food which 
is most abundant around them. Anglers know this by ex- 
perience, and use the flies which they see on the stream on 
which they are fishing. It is commonly supposed that a 
Trout is very fond of grasshoppers, but the Trout in one of 
our ponds which we have fed for a long time with lights, 
will not look at grasshoppers, and, strangest of all,_wi!l turn 
up their noses at the fattest and juiciest worms, while the 
Trout fresh caught out of the stream, Mdiich we have put 
in a pond by themselves to educate, will for weeks refuse 
the daintiest bits of lights and liver. JIunger will after a 
time drive them to change their food ; but with the young 
ones we cannot wait for this, as they will die off before 
they learn. As the fish grow older and stronger more food 
must be given to them ; still, when six months old, a bowl 
full of curd, diluted with water, will answer tor a thou- 
sand. While the fish are young, feed often ; three or four 
times a day for the first two or three months, and the 
oftener the better ; twice a day will do after three months 
until they are a year old. 

A word just liere about thick milk or curd. If milk 
stands a short time in hot weather, or a longer time in cold 
weather, it sours and becomes thick ; this thick milk is 
called, we believe, bonny clabber. The process may be 
hastened by heating the milk, or by the addition of rennet. 
In that case the product is called curd. The milk nat- 
urally turned is best for the young fish, as it is softer and 
more easily picked to pieces. We have often seen the 
young Trout, one after another, take and reject small 
pieces of curd which had been turned by heating, while 



FOOD. 3'9 

they would bite to pieces and coiisiinie a lump of the nat- 
urally turned bonny clabber. When the fish are three or 
four months old it may be made fine enough by stirring 
with a spoon, and if there are a few large lumps they will 
not go to w^aste, as the fish will pull them to pieces. Curd 
is best for the larger fish, as it is more compact, and holds 
together in lumps. The bonny clabber may be given to 
the fish until they are a year old, but after that it is gen- 
erall}'- more economical to feed them upon liver or fish. A 
change of food is good for fish, as well as for all other ani- 
mals. But as this whole question is yet unsettled, or more 
properly the art yet in its infancy, we give only our practice. 

A feeding platform in the ponds may be used with ad- 
vantage. This is simply a platform of boards, two feet by 
four, placed in the middle of the pond, and raised a few 
inches above the bottom ; it will also serve incidentally as 
a cover for the young fish. If you throw the food over 
this platform, all, if not taken before it reaches the bottom, 
will fall upon the platform, and as this can more easily be 
cleaned than the bottom of the pond, there is less liability 
of fouling the water ; the fish will also take food better 
from a clean bottom than when the food lodges in the mud 
or weeds. 

There will be a great difiference in the growth of the 
fish noticeable after the first few weeks of their existence. 
Some, of course, will be lai'ger and more vigorous than 
others from their birth ; but of those apparently of the same 
size and health when one month old, some at six months 
will be four times the size of others ; this, too, when grown 
in the same pond and under the same circumstances. They 
will begin to eat each other when very young. A Trout 
only a few weeks old begins to show symptoms of fight, 
and will kill his weaker brethren when they get in his way 
by biting a piece out of their tails. In two or three 
months, when some of them get to be double the size of 



40 FOOD HARD TO KEEP. 

others, they will swallow each other whole. "We have 
taken a Trout one inch long out of another only two inches 
long. It would seem to be advantageous, therefore, to 
Bort them out every little while, and put the same size by 
themselves ; but in practice this is very difficult, and the 
less a Trout of any size is handled, the better ; besides, if 
they are fed well, they lose their disposition to eat each 
other. Therefore, the Trout of each year may be left by 
themselves with very little probability of losing more by 
cannibalism than would be killed in sorting out and re- 
moving. 

The covers should be kept on the first pond at night, 
and in dark, cloudy weather until September, at least, 
when the Trout will be from two to five inches long and 
able to take care of themselves. Even then it is as well to 
have the covers at hand and put them on in case of a rain 
storm, since we often find after a storm numbers of young 
fish dead in an exposed pond ; therefore, we conclude, 
although we do not know the philosophy of the thing, that 
they need a cover in rainy weather. After September 
there is no difticulty in raising the fish — they all appear 
hardy and strong ; perhaps it is because all the weak ones 
have died off, and none are left but those able to " stand 
the pressure." 

Hard to Keep. — There will always be a difficulty in so 
arranging ponds, screens, outlets and inlets as to keep 
the young fry in their proper pond. The water is very apt 
to work holes around the screens, or rather around the 
boxes containing the screens.. The young fry will work 
their way through a wonderfully small hole, no matter how 
long the distance may be. They will also get through be- 
tween the screen and the socket, unless they are very well 
fitted together, and worse than all, wherever there is a 
crack into which they can get their large heads, they will 



CLEANING SCREENS — DISEASES. 41 

put them in so tightly that they cannot extricate them- 
selves, but "will die. In short, wherever you can run the 
big blade of your jack-knife, there the young Trout will go. 
In making a pond for them, it is best to beat the edges 
with a spade until they are perfectly smooth, or, better yet, 
to put a board around the edges to the depth of a foot. 

Cleaning Screens. — If the screens are not kept well 
cleaned, two ends follow : First, the water runs over the 
top of the screens instead of through them, and the young 
Trout will escape ; and second, when the screens are 
taken out to be cleaned a rush of water follows their re- 
moval, carrying away with it numbers of Trout into the 
next pond. Whenever you are going to clean the screens, 
drive all the Trout from their vicinity, then take the screens 
out and wash them with a stiff brush. They can be more 
easily cleaned by turning the dirty sides downward and 
knocking them against a stone. Try it once and see how 
easy it is, and then — don't do it again, if you wish to save 
your screen. It will be also seen now why it is necessary 
to have an additional supply running into the second and 
third pond. A supply of water sufficient for them would 
be too much for the first. 

Diseases. — This part of fish-raising is least understood 
as yet. After the egg sac is absorbed and the fry begin to 
swim about, a sick one is very easily distinguished. The 
healthy Trout swim in the current with their heads up 
Stream, darting about here and there after minute particles 
of food. The diseased ones wander about listlessly, swim- 
ming round and round continually. They may also be 
known by the size of their heads, which appear much 
larger than their bodies. The head of a young Trout is the 
largest portion of the fish, even when well, but when sick 
it appears to be all head. When they are thus affected we 
4 



42 DISEASES. 



don't know what is the matter with them, and how to cure 
them. Before the food sac is gone the Trout is often, 
afflicted with a swelling over the sac ; a membrane forn)s 
there, swells out large and is filled with a watery sub- 
stance. We call the disease the " dropsy," for want of a 
better name. Sometimes the Trout may be saved by mak- 
ing an incision in the swelling and letting out the water ; 
but as with care only a few of them are affected in this 
way, it is better for the fish culturist to hatch more eggs 
than he expects to raise than to bother with a surgery he 
does not understand. In other words, hatch more than 
you want, and keep the strongest and best. 

In review of this chapter the main facts are that the in- 
fant Trout are hard to raise. It is almost as if a great 
rough man should attempt to raise a thousand infants-' 
deprived of their parents at birth. Most of the infant 
Trout die of absolute starvation. They do not get food 
enough. That which is given to them is not cut fine 
enough, or for some cause they will not take it. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Adult Trout. 

Supply of "Water fok Given Kumber of Trout. — • 
This has never yet been accurately determined, and we do 
not know that any general rule can be given applicable to 
all times and places : because the supply of water required 
for any given number depends very much upon the tem- 
perature of the water, — a given supply in cold weather 
sustaining many more in good condition than the same 
supply in hot weather. It is the same with Trout as with 
mankind. If many people are packed together in a close 
room, they will soon begin to suffer ; but will not feel the 
bad effects so soon in cold weather as in warm. Now the 
water contains the air upon which the Trout lives, and the 
supply for any given number depends also upon the 
amount of air which is in the water. A still and smooth 
flowing stream, with little vegetation in it, contains the 
least amount of air. Hence the value of a fall of water 
between the ponds if the supply is small. The volume 
of water required depends also upon the shape of the 
ponds and upon the size of the fish'. We can only say 
about w^hat quantity is necessary and leave each owner of 
ponds to observe for himself whether more or less fish do 
well in his locality, and under the circumstances, of ponds, 
supply, &c., which he has made. It must always be borne 
in mind that the larger the supply of water the better for 
the Trout ; and the Trout-breeder on a large scale will find 
better success with small ponds and large supply than in 
any other way. For ten thousand fish the water supply 



44 SUPPLY OF WATER. 



should not be less than sev^en inches square (that is, forty- 
nine square inches) and would be still better if it was 
seventy-five square inches. A less supply will perhaps do ; 
but witli it there is danger of disease and death to tlie fish. 
We will say then a supply of water filling a pipe five 
inches square (making twenty-five square inches) for the 
size of ponds shown in plate on page (14) calculated to sus- 
tain five thousand fish in the second, and two thousand 
fish in the third ponds. The first pond to receive six or 
eight thousand young fish, need not have more than two 
or tliree square inches of the water. This estimate of num- 
ber of fish is purposely made low. More fish may be able 
to live in your water with the supply mentioned ; but the 
number given certainly can. 

Growth of, Trout. — Tt is impossible to tell the age of 
a Trout by its size, as its size depends very much upon the 
quantity of food which it obtains. It is a general rule 
that with good feeding a Trout three years old will weigh 
one pound. They have been known to live for years at 
the bottom of a well, where the supply of food must have 
been extremely limited, and remain through all those 
years, apparently at the same size. Then again, with good 
feeding, they will more than double their weight in a sin- 
gle season. Trout will not grow so fast in swift running 
water as in a pond. The largest Trout are never caught in 
narrow parts of the stream where the water runs fast. 
But where the rivulet swells out into a dark and still pool, 
there the patriarchs are found. We presume that the 
largest Trout now taken in this country are found in the 
lakes of Maine. Some will grow much faster than others 
under any circumstances. A few will always look lean 
and hungry no matter how much they are fed, and others 
seem to have a peculitir knack of getting fat. Still the 
rule of good feeding applies equally to all. They will not 

I 



GROWTH OF TEOUT. 45 

grow SO last when three or four years old as before ; that 
is, the rate of increase diminishes with age. Tlie average 
age of a Trout is perhaps twelve or fourteen years. On 
this point we cannot speak with certainty. When I first 
commenced building ponds, five years ago, a large Trout 
was caught from the brook, which I supposed then to be 
three or four years old. From its size and beauty it was 
deemed worthy of being distinguished by a name. Helen, 
as she was called, throve well in the pond to which she 
was transferred, and increased in size and comeliness : at 
the beginning of the present year she seemed to be as well 
as ever and as large; weighing nearly four pounds. But 
during the year, without any perceptible sickness, she has 
diminished in size, her back has turned gray and grizzly, 
and she presents a stunted appearance, which says as plainly 
as words to the spectator, tliis Trout is old and gray and 
wrinkled. Judging from this and from others in our pos- 
session, we suppose a Trout to be in its prime when 
it is from three to ten years old. The size is altogether 
a question of food. On Long Island where they have access 
to the salt water and feed on the numberless small fisli and 
Crustacea abounding in the sea, the Trout are notoriously 
large, while in the mountain stream, where the food is 
scarce and precarious, it is just as well known that the 
Trout are small. The size to which a Trout may grow is 
not very well settled ; so many " fish stories " have been told 
that discredit is thrown even upon well authenticated asser- 
tions. Trout may in exceptional cases and in large waters 
attain the weight of eight or ten pounds, but the largest one 
I ever saw weighed five pounds and two ounces ; and a 
four pound Trout is generally considered to be of pretty 
good size. This question of size is interesting rather to 
the sportsman than to the Ti*out farmer. It is universally 
considered by all old Trout-eaters that small Trout are the 
best — say from one-quarter to one-half a pound. A better 



46 GROWTH OF TROUT. 



market may always be found for fish of this size than for 
any other. There is only one market in the United IStates 
where there is a demand for very large Trout, and that is 
JS'ew York, where the largest Trout sell the most readily. 
Besides, fish of this size (small) are the handiest to manage 
in the spawning bed, and more of them can be raised, if 
the spawn is extracted by hand, the dithculty in handling 
a two pound Trout is very great and increases very fast as 
the tish grows larger, ^ot only is it a great trouble to 
handle the large ones, but the danger of killing them is 
much greater ; so that, in our opinion, from one-quarter to 
one-pound weight is as large as the hsh farmer should at- 
tempt to grow ijis Trout, unless from motives of curiosity 
to see how large they will get to be. As to the flavor of 
a Trout, nothing need be said in its praise, as its excellence 
has long been conceded ; but much has been said about 
the inferiority of flavor in Trout raised artificially. There 
is no foundation for such an opinion. The angler, of 
course, thinks no Trout equal in flavor to that which he 
catches himseJf. After he has been tramping ail day in the 
open air and gathering a raging appetite from his exercise 
and sport, he will cook a Trout over a smoking wood fire, 
eat it half raw and half burnt, and declare it the most de- 
licious morsel in the world. It is not very reasonable, at any 
rate, to suppose that a lantern-jawed, slab-sided, long-bodied, 
half-starved Trout out of a mountain stream is equal in flavor 
to a well-fed, fat and sleek Trout from the artificial pond. 
As to actual experience 1 cannot tell any difi'erence in flavor 
myself, neither did 1 ever meet any one who made the trial 
under fair circumstances who could detect the ditterence. 
This statement must not be misunderstood. There is a 
great ditierence in the flavor of Trout taken from difi'erent 
parts of the same stream, and at difi'erent times of the 
year, even from opposite sides of the stream. Still the 
same trouty flavor is distinguishable in all, and the flavor 



GROWTH OF TEOUT — FOOD. 47 

is the same in the Trout taken from the artificial pond as 
in that taken from the stream — varying no more and no 
less. 

A word may be said here aboiit the distinctive marks of 
Trout. We consider that the difierences which are found 
are caused by food, climate and water. The fringe marks 
or bars found on the young Trout soon disappear. In adult 
Trout the markings vary considerably. Some will be more 
highly-colored on the belly than others, and on some the 
spots will be brighter. Some look dull and dark ; others 
light-colored and brilliant. I have myself caught the sil- 
ver or Schoodic Trout, as it is called, in the Caledonia 
creek. This Trout is commonly supposed to be confined 
to one locality — the Schoodic Lake — and is also called the 
land locked Salmon. We have still in our ponds a number 
of the same species, caught from our creek. Trout can be 
bred to any color by feeding and the use of proper ponds, 
and we believe that in the future they will be bred to color, 
shape, flavor, etc., with as much nicety and certainty as a 
cattle-fancier breeds his animals. 

The color of a Trout is sometimes a matter ot optical 
deception. Old fishermen aftirm, we think truly, that a 
Trout is always the color of the bottom over which it lies ; 
and that in passing from one color of bottom to another, it 
will change its color in a minute. The Trout in deep and 
shaded pools are notoriously deeper in color, or rather 
darker than those in shallow, bright waters; and they not 
only look darker while they are in the water, but stay 
darker when they are removed. The Trout-raiser must 
make his ponds accordingly : shallow and exposed if he 
wishes light-colored Trout ; deep and shaded if he wishes 
a darker color. 



Food. — The question of food for Trout has not yet been 
entirely solved. By this we mean that it is not yet settled 



48 FOOD. 

what is the best food which can be obtained cheapest aild 
in the greatest quantities, Tiiis question is important be- 
cause the prolit of Trout-raising depends upon it. All other 
circumstances being equal, he who can obtain the cheapest 
food will make Trout-raising pay. In France and Ger- 
many dead animals are gathered from the farms around 
theUsh establishments and made into pates, or pies, which 
are fed to the lish as wanted. However good this may be 
for the lish it is somewliat repugnant to the taste of the 
lish eater. In this country we pursue a cleaner method. 
The pluck of animals killed (that is the lights and liver) is 
obtained from the butchers. This food can be obtained 
fresh at least once or twice a week in most localities and 
ke])t fresh by means of an ice house. In fact Trout will 
not eat decayed or spoiled meat unless they are very hun- 
gry. They are very dainty in their tastes and will often 
go hungry rather than take anything which they do not 
fancy. We feed meat to them raw. They have never 
been used to cooked food in their natural state and we do 
not see that it is any better tor them. The lights should 
be given to the larger tish as it cannot be chopped so line 
as the liver and is more apt to hang in strips or strings. 
The liver which can easily be cut into small pieces may be 
fed to the smaller fish. A Trout will sometimes choke to 
death ; they are so greedy that they attempt to swallow a 
very large piece of food. Sometimes this sticks in their 
throats and kills them. Often it is caught in their teeth 
and thus prevented from going down the throat, or it gets 
into their gills and stops their breathing. They will,when 
choking, come to the top of the water, and may sometimes 
be saved by taking the piece out of their throats, or push- 
ing it down. But the best remedy is to chop the meat fine, 
say one-half or one-(j[narter inch squares for two and three 
years old. jNo machine which we have ever tried would 
do the work of chopping to our satisfaction. A sausage 



FOOD. 49 

machine runs the food together and mashes it, and the 
meat-cutters, which do tlie best, require cleaning and 
sharpening so often that thej are only a nuisance. The 
best thing we liave found is a butcher's block, or log of 
wood two and a half feet high on which to cut, and a very 
heavy knife or light butcher's cleaver. These instruments 
are very simple, not liable to get out of order, and do the 
work required of them in the best manner, and with no 
more labor than a machine would require. Sometimes 
two or three knives are fastened together to make the work 
go more expeditiously ; but one is best. 

Any kind of meat is good for food. Trout are carnivor- 
ous and will not eat vegetables of any kind that we have 
ever tried. We feed them lights and liver because it is the 
least expensive food we can find in large quantities, and 
answers a very good purpose. In their natural state 
Trout feed upon insects of all descriptions which abound 
in or near the water; worms of all kinds, from the angle 
woi-m to the caterpillar, which the wind shakes from the 
trees bordering the stream into the water, are eagerly 
taken. Flies of every kind which either drop down upon 
the surface of the water to lay their eggs, or may happen 
to fall into it, are quickly devoured. Young fish of any 
kind which may be in tlie stream serve lor food ; so do the 
grasshoppers and beetles which fall into the water, and 
even the crawfish is not spared. If any one will examine 
the bottom of a good Trout stream carefully, he will find 
every stick, stone and bunch of moss in it covered and 
filled with insects of various kinds. If you look at the 
bottom of the creek, also, when it is free from moss and 
sticks, you will see that in the summer time it presents a 
curious mottled appearance, as if it were having an erup- 
tion of some kind ; these protuberances are caused by the 
eggs of water flies, which, after a time, rise to the surface, 
and then breaking their shell or case, for the first time. 



50 FOOD. 

spread their wings and % away. On this larvae, before it 
it has assumed the fly-state, the Trout feed ; and these eggs 
of water flies, together with minute insects and worms are 
the special food of the very young Trout. 

Fisli of any kind are a very good food for Trout. If they 
are small they may be put into the water whole, the Trout 
will take them all the better if they are alive. Any coarse 
fish which can be obtained cheaply and in sufiicient quan- 
tities may be chopped up fine and used as food. Curd also 
may be fed to adult Trout as well as to the young, and 
they will thrive upon it. Sometimes maggots are used for 
food. A maggot factory is very simple, but also very 
nasty. Meat can be kept in an open box until it is nothing 
but a mass of maggots, or a piece of meat can be hung over 
the pond and as the maggots form they will drop into the 
water. The maggots certainly do not contain any more 
nutriment than the meat, and the bad smell attending the 
operations is argument enough against it. It is just as 
easy to have everything clean and nice, and the tish cer- 
tainly will be no worse for it. As we said before, they 
will not eat carrion unless pressed by hunger. They will 
eat a live Trout, but we have never known an instance of 
their eating, or even touching a dead one. If any way 
could be devised of raising flies, or shrimp, or various kinds 
of insects (their natural food) in sufficient quantities and at 
little expense, this would be the best of all. A change of 
food would also do them good, but we find that they will not 
readil} change their food. This bears upon the question whe- 
ther Trout will take flies out of season. It has long been a 
matter of dispute among anglers, whether Trout would 
take only particular flies at particular seasons of the year, 
or whether they would take any good-looking fly at any 
time. My experience is that when one kind of fly is thick 
upon the water the Trout will take no other. When there 
are very few flies and food is scarse they will take almost 



FOOD. 51 

anything in the shape of a fly which presents itself. On 
Caledonia creek an angler with only a few general flies 
would make a very poor catch. The Trout there depend 
chiefly on flies for food and learn to be discriminating. On 
the Long Island streams where they feed chiefly on salt 
water fish and to take flies only as occasional delicacies, 
they may very easily be deluded. 

As to the quantity of food necessary for a given number 
of Trout. This is ditiicult to give exactly as it will vary 
with the size of the fish and the season of the year, more 
being required in moderate weather than when it is very 
hot or very cold. For one thousand three year old, about 
five pounds of light or liver per day; for two year old three 
pounds ; but a very little trial will show just how much to 
feed them. Feeding once each day will keep the Trout 
over one year old in good condition. Feed slowly, and as 
soon as they begin to refuse the food stop feeding them, 
then you have the measure and feed a little less than this 
quantity every day. We say a little less because we have 
known cases in which owners of ponds being over anxious 
to fatten their Trout, have killed them by over-feeding. 
Still this does not often happen, especially if they are fed 
regularly. A Trout after long abstinence will gorge him- 
self to repletion ; but will not kill himself to-day if he is 
reasonably sure of to-morj:ow's dinner. All animals ap- 
pear to be wiser than men, and it is very seldom that they 
will eat enough to do them injury no matter how much 
may be given them. 

The Trout will get so tame after a time that they will 
take the food out of your fingers, in fact they will take the 
fingers too. Their teeth are sharp and make scratches 
like needles. They may be taught to jump for their food 
by holding it a short distance above the water, or may be 
made to come up and take it out of the pan you are hold- 
ing. Feed in the middle of the day when the sun is well 



52 TEMPERATURE OF WATER. 

up, any time from ten to three is good. Make it a gener- 
al rule to feed slowly and give them as much as they will 
eat without wasting. 

The question has often been asked us whether salt food 
agrees with them. We only know that our lish will not 
take it much, and it does not seem to agree with them. 
Still as Trout will live and thrive surprisingly in salt water 
we suppose they will, in time, relish it, although eating 
food found in salt water and eating what is commonly 
termed salt food are things very different in degree. We 
do not recommend its use. For many, curd is a much 
cheaper food for adult Trout. The farmer who keeps 
cows will find it an advantage to turn his cream into but- 
ter and feed the curd to his fish. 

Temperature of Water. — The colder the water is, down 
to forty degrees, the better will the Trout do. They will 
die in the ponds if the water raises to sixty-eight degrees, 
unless there is a spring in the pond, or colder water into 
which they can get. We have often heard or seen the 
statement that fish could be kept in a frozen state a long 
while, and then thawed out and be as lively as ever. Our 
experience says no. Fish may be frozen, so that a thin 
scale of ice forms over them, and so long as they can be 
bent they will thaw out and wil[ recover ; but if they are 
once frozen solid or stitf throughout, they are dead, and 
cannot be brought back to life. If the ponds freeze over 
in winter, it is no sign that the water under the ice is below 
thirty-two degrees. If it was, the water in the ponds 
would freeze solid. Unless the water is taken close to a 
spring and much water runs through the ponds, the sur- 
face will freeze over ; but this will not injure the fish, as 
the water below will be much warmer than the tempera- 
ture of the atmosphere ; and the ice which forms over the 
pond serves to keep the water below from being made 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES. 53 

colder bj contact with the air. If the water is so shig- 
gish as to be likely to rise above sixtj-eight degrees in 
summer, the ponds may be shaded in some way. Trees 
and bushes look very nicely about the borders of the ponds, 
and are valuable so far as ornament is concerned. But 
there are certain objections to their use which will banish 
them pretty thoroughly from the grounds of the practical 
Trout-raiser. One objection is that the leaves, in autumn 
especially, clog up the screens, and demand constant atten- 
tion to prevent an ovei'flow of the water and Trout. Or 
the leaves fall to the bottom of the pond, and decaying 
there, foul the pond. The roots of the trees also will force 
their way towards the water, and break the walls or banks 
of the pond. If it is necessary to shade the ponds, floats 
may be used, made of boards nailed together and moored 
in some convenient place ; but the best plan of shading is 
by light covefs placed on beams running across the pond. 
If the ponds are very large, the floats will have to be used. 
But the ponds must not be made large. We have said that 
Trout would not live in water which was raised above 
the temperature of sixty-eight degrees, and would do better 
in water at forty degrees. This settles the question as to 
how far south the Trout will live. It will live as far south 
as the temperature of the water in summer will allow. 
As to the exact latitude that depends upon elevation, &c. ; 
but there are few Trout, if any, to be found in the South- 
ern States, 

Diseases and Enemies, — The diseases to which adult 
Trout are subject are very little understood. At least the 
cause of the diseases and their remedies. Sometimes a 
Trout will be observed to have a white fungus growing 
upon it in spots. This will spread over the fish until it 
dies. Sometimes the fish will turn to a black color. 
This always seems to be an indication of blindness, as we 



54 DISEASES AND ENEMIES. 

have never observed this peculiar color unless the fish was 
partially or totullj blind. The funo;n9 which grows upon 
the fisli is probably not a disease, but is caused bj, or is the 
indication of a disease. Nothing is known about remedies. 
If only a few Trout are affected, take them out, as they 
will be sure to die ; those covered with spots very soon, 
and those blind, in a few months, of starvation. If the 
Trout begin to die in numbers, change them to another 
pond, if possible, or give them more water. This is all we 
can do for them. The dead Trout should be taken out of 
the pond as fast as they are discovered. They will rise to 
the surface only in very rare cases, but generally sink to 
the bottom, and if there is much moss in the pond they are 
lost to siglit, and decaying on the bottom, foul the pond. 
If there is much sickness among the Trout, we generally 
consider it a sign of insufficient water. 

There are but few enemies of Trout in artificial ponds. 
If the ponds are near the house, and people constantly 
about them, tliere will be no trouble with tlie birds which 
usually prey upon fish — such as the kingfisher, fish-hawk 
and crane. Even if the ponds are some distance from the 
house, the water will probably be too deep for the fish-hawk 
and kingfisher to do much mischief, as it is only in shallow 
water that they can be certain of their prey. Cranes will 
wade into the water and take all that comes within 
reach of their long bills — whether frogs, snakes or fish. 
But they are very few in number, and the Trout are wary. 
If any of these birds appear, shoot them ; and as there 
are very few of them, at any rate, yon will not be troubled 
much. Muskrats sometimes get into the ponds. They 
are vegetable eaters and do not eat the fish. Still, it is 
bad to have them around, as they make holes in the banks 
of the ponds and let the water off. A few traps will 
soon dispose of them. It may be worth while to men- 
tion here the manner of catching them. Find out the 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES. 55 

places where the muskrats go into the ponds. They will 
make a little bare path, or run on the edge of the bank, 
by always going in and out at the saine place. Then 
set a trap (a common game trap, such as is sold in all coun- 
try stores) in the water, so that the plate of the trap will 
come in the middle of the run and about a half inch under 
water, taking care to place the jaws of the trap in such a 
direction that when shut they will be in a line with the 
run. Then stake the chain into deep water. No bait is 
necessary. If any bait is used, a sweet apple or parsnip 
is good. The muskrat comes through his run, steps on the 
pan of the trap and springs it. He tries to take it with 
him to the shore. If he succeeds in doing this, he will 
likely get out in some way ; for instance, if he is caught by 
the leg, he will sit down and knaw it oif, in order to get 
free. But as the trap is staked out into the water, he can- 
not get to shore, and will be drowned by his struggles and 
by the weight of the trap, for he cannot survive under 
water very long without rising to the surface for a supply 
of air. 

Water snakes cannot do any damage to the large Trouti 
and even the small Trout are too much for them, unless 
they are very thick, or are in a very small pond. We 
have seen the large Trout in our ponds dart and apparently 
attempt to bite a snake, which was passing through . They 
exhibited no fear of the snake ; but the snake certainly did 
appear to be afraid of them. Undoubtedly they will eat 
the small fish if they can catch them. We have often 
opened snakes, caught about our ponds and creek, but never 
found any Trout in them ; so the danger from snakes can 
not be very great, except to the very young fish. Frogs 
have a very bad name ; but, we think, do not eat the fish 
very much, although they will certainly eat all the little 
ones they can get hold of Even if they do no injury, they 
are not of any advantage, and may as well be disposed of. 



56 I)I8EA8E8 AND ENE^HES. 

Oralis, or cray-fish, as tlioy are more properly called, very 
seldom eat the yoniio; fish. They will lie on the bottom of 
the pond, hidden in the mud, with the joint of the claw 
wide open and ready ; then if any unfortunate Troutling 
passes within reach, his doom is sealed." Cray-fish do 
much more mischief by their burrowino; propensities. 
They will make holes out of the pond, or from one pond 
to another, through which the water escapes, and very 
often the young fish also. The cray-fish is the scavenger 
of the water, and it may be a question whether a few of 
them will not do as much good, by disposing of decaying 
animal matter, as they do harm, by destroying a few fish. 
The greatest fear of all fish-raisers is that their fish will 
be stolen at night. Well, there is the same danger here 
that there is in any other property, and no more. In fact, 
not so much. The risk of the States Prison is too much for 
any one to incur for the sake of a few fish : and then there 
is only one way in which the fish can be obtained. They 
cannot be taken out of the ponds with a scoop (or scap) 
net. If any one will try this a few times, even in broad 
daylight, he will soon be convinced of the fact. A few 
old logs, stones and branches of trees, strewn on the bot- 
tom of the pond, will make it impossible to drag the 
pond with a seine. Catching them by hook and line 
is the only means ; and if the fish are M-ell fed daily, 
it will take more time to catch a mess than thieves can 
usually spare. Trout also find enemies in their own kind. 
The only way to stop them from feeding on each other is 
to give them plenty of other food. It may be as well, 
perhaps, not to feed them on small fish, unless they are 
chopped up fine, for this reason : Trout soon accustom 
themselves to certain kinds of food, and will refuse any- 
thing strange. If they get into the habit of feeding on 
small fish, they will not be likely to make a distinction 
between Trout and any other fish. Certain old Trout also 



DISEASES AJSTD ENEMIES. 57 

become unusually destructive to their brethren. Like the 
" rogue-elephants," and the "man-eaters," among the lions, 
they become morose and sullen, live apart from the rest, 
and make war upon everything around. When you find 
one of this kind, spear him at once, as there is no cure, 
and he will invariably destroy more than he is worth. It 
may be worth while to mention here how one Trout eats 
another : An old Trout will catch another, in some cases 
one-half of its own size, by the middle, and with its strong 
jaws hold it fast and swim around with it, while the pri- 
soner worries and struggles to get free. This performance 
lasts until the victim gets loose or is exhausted. I have 
seen one carry another round in its mouth, for half a day. 
If the little fellow gets free, it is usually only to die a lin- 
gering death ; for the breaking of the skin is fatal. When 
it is exhausted, the old rogue, dropping his victim, which 
until this time he has held by the middle, seizes it again 
by the head, and slowly swallows it whole; the operation 
sometimes taking several hours, and while in progress 
making the fish look as if it had no head, bat only a tail 
at each end. 

In some localities mink are very destructive. These 
animals are particularly to be dreaded because they do 
not only take what fish they want to eat and then leave, 
but will take out fifty or one hundred before they stop, and 
having found a well stocked pond, they will resort to it 
again and again. The best way to trap them is as follows : 
Make a box eighteen inches long by six inches broad and 
deep, leaving one end open, set a common game trap (such 
as used for catching muskrats) in the open end of the box 
in such a position that when the jaws are closed they will 
be in a line with the length of the trap. If it is set cross- 
ways it will be apt to throw the mink out instead of catch- 
ing it. Put the bait in the further end of the box — a piece 
of meat or a dead fish will answer for bait — set the trap and 



58 DISEASES AND ENEMIES. 

cover it over with a lar^e leaf. Now, there is only one 
way for the mink to eet at the bait, which is by walking 
over the trap. Some Trout-breeders also try to raise mink 
for profit as their skins are valuable ; but their habits of 
eating fish and their custom of getting out of almost any 
box or yard in which they are confined do not make them 
agreeable neighbors for the Trout. 

The fish farmer can always tell by looking at his Trout 
in the morning whether they have been disturbed during 
the night. If they have been molested, whether by birds, 
mink or men, they will appear excited and frightened. 
The water will be discolored by the mud which they stir 
up as they dart back and forth near the bottom, and the 
Trout will be nearly all hidden under stones, in the moss, 
etc. 

There is one kind of Trout which we do not possess in 
ponds, of which we would very much like a specimen. 
We mean the Trout which comes to dinner at the sound 
of a bell, or at the call or whistle of his feeder. Many 
writers about fish tell us to avoid all noises around the 
ponds lest they frighten the fish, and to be particularly 
careful never to fire a gun on the grounds lest the delicate 
ear of the Trout should be too much afiected. Now, hav- 
ing made somewhat careful experiments with the vne^w of writ- 
ing this, we would only remark that Trout cannot hear the 
sound of a bell, nor the voice of their feeder, nor even his 
whistle, neither will they stir one fraction of an inch at the 
sound of a gun fired one foot above their heads; but the 
sight of a Trout is very keen, his eyes are magnifying 
glasses, and make everything look larger, and at the same 
time indistinct. His enemies are to be avoided by the aid 
of his eyes, and the Trout starts and runs at every sudden 
motion, whether it is the shadow of the angler, or the fall- 
ing of a leaf upon the water. But this is not exactly Trout 
breeding; let us return to the subject. 



TREATMENT OF FiSH, &C. 69 

Transfer of Fish. — In the spring of the year when the 
new hatching is ready, the Trout must be moved, those 
from pond No. 1 to pond No. 2, and from No. 2 to No. 3. 
The manner usually adopted is to take out the screens be- 
tween the ponds and drive the fish down. Care must be 
taken that all the fish are removed from the pond before 
the next size is let in, as one large one will create havoc 
among a batch of small ones. This method reads very easy 
in print, but there will be found some difiiculties in prac- 
tice. It is hard to get all the Trout out, unless the water 
is drawn very low and the fish then taken out with hand- 
nets. They will hide under a stick, stone, or clump of 
moss, and you may think that every fish is out of the pond 
when there are, in reality, dozens of them left. 

Other Fish with Trout. — It is not well to have other 
fish in the same pond with Trout, they will probably des- 
troy one another. Fish of any sort will eat the young of 
all kinds. Even the harmless and innocent looking gold- 
fish will take young Trout with a relish. A few stickle- 
backs will probably get into the ponds, but they will do no 
hurt unless they get among the babies two months old ; 
the large Trout will soon clear them out of their vicinity. 
Let the pollywogs wiggle their way in peace, and when 
they get to be frogs sell them or eat them. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Taking Eggs. 

Season for spawning. — All fish of the Salmon kind 
spawn in autumn or winter. Trout commence to spawn 
about October. The colder the climate is the earlier they 
will spawn. In our stream (Caledonia Creek) the Trout com- 
mence to spawn about the 12th of October ; the water 
standing then at about forty-eight degrees. In our ponds 
where the temperature, at that time, is a few degrees high- 
er, the}' begin to spawn about the 1st of November, 
and they cease spawning about the 1st of March. The 
length of the spawning season depends upon the equality 
of the temperature of the water. In streams where the 
temperature does not vary much, the length of the season 
is three or four months, sometimes more, and in cold 
mountain streams it only lasts two months. 

Signs of Spawning. — As the season of spawning ap- 
proaches, the difference of sexes shows more clearly. It is 
very hard in the summer to tell the difference between a 
male and female Trout. By handling them much and 
watching them closely the Trout breeder comes to know 
the male and female apart almost instinctively; but he 
would be pnzzled to tell just hoio he knows it. The male 
is generally sharper jawed than the female at any season 
of the year, and lines drawn from his shoulders to his tail 
would be straight without any bulge in the middle, while 
the female has a rounder jaw, and even in summer is 
slightly protuberant in the middle. These are general 



SIGNS OF SPAWNING NATURAL SPAWNING. 61 

signs, and by no means universal. It is only in the spawn- 
ing season that difference of the sexes can be told with any 
certainty. As this season approaches the differences be- 
come more marked. The difference in size may be more 
easily distinguished, as the eggs grow large and till the 
belly of the female. It will not do to mistake food for 
eggs. A Trout recently gorged with food looks just like a 
female full of eggs ; but the food soon disappears as, a Trout 
is an animal of quick digestion, while the swelling caused 
by the maturing eggs gets larger as the spawning season 
approaches. The colors of the lish, also, are at that time 
a guide. The female turns to a dark and sombre hue, 
while the colors of the males grow very brilliant. 

Natural Spawning. — As the spawning season approach- 
es, the Trout seek places in the creek adapted to the pur- 
pose. The places sought after are a pebbly bottom in 
shallow water close to the spring or head waters of the 
creek. Trout will work their way up over the shallows 
of a stream clear to the inlet ; but if there are springs in 
the bottom of the creek (which is the case with almost all 
creeks) they will invariably spawn there, without going 
up to the inlet, or if they lind a shallow place with gentle 
current and gravel bottom anywhere in the creek, they 
will spawn there. (Very few of the eggs laid in such a place 
will come to maturity unless there happens to be a spring 
there). The males sometimes go up the stream hrst, not 
always. At this season the males engage in lierce contest 
for the possession of the female. These battles often end in 
death to one or both of the combatants. That these battles 
arc lierce, the deep wounds left on the dead bodies of the 
slain will bear witness. I have known them to light for two 
days, and then both be killed. However, when they are 
once mated the battles cease and the pair are hardly ever 
seriously interfered with. Intruders in any quantity come 



62 NATUEAL SPAWNING. 

around, seemingly out of curiosity or fun ; but, no matter 
what their size, they leave as soon as the husband, for the 
time being, darts at them. These intruders are, perhaps, 
waiting for a chance to devour some of the stray eggs 
which the female drops. The male and female being 
paired, go to the chosen place. Tliey lie side by side to- 
gether when not disturbed ; but the male is occupied most 
of the time in driving oti' intruders who are continually 
swimming around. It is very curious to see a little male 
with a big female in charge. Usually the little Trout 
clear the way for the large ones without a show of resis- 
tance. In the ponds when the Trout are fed the largest 
ones get the meat while the little ones get out of the way, 
and swim to the further side of the pond, and even if the 
meat is thrown where they are they will not take it. until 
they have waited to see whether it is not the pleasure of 
the big fellows to come and get it. At the spawning sea- 
son all this is changed, they will attack a Trout thee times 
their size if he comes within a few feet of the female. 
Very often while the male is driving off one, another one 
on the opposite side will make tender advances to the fe- 
male ; quick as a dart the proper husband returns to ohase 
the gay deceiver. In fact his time is fully occupied with 
chasing oti" intruders. Very often if they are too numer- 
ous the female will dart from the nest over which she 
hovers, to help her chosen mate. It may be imagined 
that there is not much time for love-making, however, one 
compensation is that there are no longer any battles. All 
intruders literally " turn tail " as soon as chased. They 
seem to recognize the rights cf the married pair, but act as 
if they could not restrain their propensity for harmless 
mischief. Of course it only looks so; the intruders are 
after eggs. We do not know of any animals which enjoy 
a sense of the ludicrous, or what is commonly called fun. 
Still there are few sights more interesting to the lover of 



NATCnRAL SPAWITESTG. 63 

nature than the spawning of Trout. A nest is made in 
the gravel by the female. It is simply a shallow hole 
about six or eight inches in diameter and about two or 
three inches deep. This is made by the female diving 
down at intervals against the gravel and as she comes up 
giving it a slirt to one side with her tail. Kearly the same 
motion as may be often observed when the Trout dive 
down on the bottom and rub their sides against it to free 
themselves from parasites. This dipping motion is con- 
tinued for some days until the nest is large enough to suit 
her. After lying over this some time the female is ready 
to emit a portion of her eggs. The male lies by her side 
while she does this. However busy he may have been 
in driving off interlopers, he seems to know by instinct 
when the female is ready to emit her eggs and is always by 
her side. At the same time she emits her eggs he emits 
his milt over them. They do this with a curious curl up- 
ward, which every Trout-breeder should see for himself. 
I do not know that I can describe it so as to make it un- 
derstood ; but as they emit the eggs and milt lying side 
by side,they start forward and upward. Yery often the male 
and female lockjaws together and their heads slowly rise,ap- 
parently trembling with excitement and emitting eggs and 
milt until a nearly vertical position is gained, still lying 
over the hole, then, the eggs and milt being all emitted, 
they fall away from one another and the male retires to 
some secluded spot where he remains five or ten minutes 
resting. This interval the female employs in covering her 
eggs. She will slirt in with her tail all the stones of pro- 
per size to be found near her nest, and if there are not 
enough to cover it to her liking she goes above, and, pick- 
ing out a particular stone, works it down backward be- 
tween the two ventral fins. This labor she continues un- 
til the eggs are completely covered. After five or ten 
minutes the male pays her a visit to see how she is getting 



64 NATURAL SPAWNING. 

along. He looks around a little, eats a few of the eggs if 
he can find any uncovered, and then retires to his work 
again, where he remains two or three hours with only oc- 
casional visits to the female before he recovers from the 
exhaustion which he has undergone. The female does 
not seem to rest, she continues covering the eggs and does 
not then leave the place. The reason for this is tliat she 
has not yet emitted all her eggs, for Trout occupy some 
time in their spawning, laying their eggs at intervals, as 
they become ripe. Observers differ as to the length of 
time occupied in spawning. My own opinion is that the 
time is not usually more than three days, although some- 
times extending to six days, the female covering the eggs 
as she emits them. When it is understood that some of 
the eggs do not sink into the nest, but are carried off by 
the current, and that only a few ot every batch escape the 
jaws of their parents, and of the many Trout swimming 
around the spawning place, one may begin to perceive the 
advantage of artificial methods. To make the matter still 
worse ; after the nest is finished, the parents gone, and the 
eggs nicely hatching, another pair come along intent on 
similar business. The female sees the place where the first 
has laid her eggs, and, fancying it a good place for her 
own nest, begins to make one there. As soon as the eggs 
are uncovered, leaving all other business, the pair eat up 
all they can find, and then proceed to lay their own eggs, 
only, perhaps, to be served in the same way by another 
pair. When it is considered, also, that all kinds of water- 
fowl are fond of these eggs and diligently search after them, 
and that in the spring time the young fry furnish a large 
proportion of food for the older ones, the wonder seems to 
be, not that there are so few Trout in our streams, but that 
there are any left. Another cause of the rapid diminution 
of Trout in settled countries, is the tame ducks which are 
allowed on the stream. They wander at will peacefully 



NATURAL SPAWNmG. 65 

up and down the stream, explore every foot of the bottom, 
turning over the gravel'with their long beaks, and leaving 
very few of the eggs to hatch. The number of spawn 
which a Trout will give has been variously estimated. 
They will commence spawning at two years old if well fed 
and large. It has been asserted that eggs have been taken 
from a Trout one year old, or rather taken in the winter 
of the same year in which it was hatched. This may be 
so, but it is more interesting in a physiological point of view 
than for any practical purpose, as there are so few that it 
is not worth while to take them. A Trout two years old 
will give from two hundred to five hundred eggs, a three 
year old from five hundred to one thousand eggs, a four or 
five year old from one thousand to two thousand eggs. This 
is only an approximation, as the number of spawn depends 
upon the weight and health of the fish, and not on its age. 
In some cases the number of eggs is much greater, but 
four thousand is the most I have ever taken from a Trout. 
In estimating the number of spawn from a given number 
offish in a pond, it must be remembered that some are 
barren, and some diseased, and some, perhaps, will not go 
up into the race. So that the average yield of two and three 
year olds, (females only counted), will not be over five 
hundred, of four and five year olds, not over one thousand 
each. The proportion of males to females in a pond should 
be about one half. Not so many are necessary to fecun- 
date the eggs, and it would be an advantage in one way 
to have fewer, since then there would not be so much fight- 
ing in choosing partners, and as all the females do not 
spawn at once, one male would be enough to serve several 
females ; but, on the other hand, the males seem to run 
out of milt before the females get through laying their 
eggs, and towards the close of the season it is often diffi- 
cult to obtain males with milt enough to fecundate the 
eggs ; BO that it seems better to have in the pond an equal 



6G TAKING SPAWN BY HAND. 

number of males and females, thereby giving more chance 
of saving some of the milt till the last of the season. The 
males are very amorous and will pair again and again. It 
very often happens that some of them die from the exhaust- 
ing effects of the season. The best we can do is to have an 
equal number of males and females, and take the chances. 

Taking Spawn by Hand. — There are two methods in 
practice for taking spawn. The old method, which 
we will explain first, is that most generally used 
hitherto, and with it a good degree of success has 
been attained. The Trout will not spawn in the 
ponds where the bottom consists of large stones or 
weeds ; but if there is any sand or gravel anywhere 
on the bottom of the ponds they will spawn on it. 
Therefore be careful to have only the raceway, where the 
water enters, covered with gravel. In October this may 
be washed and cleaned from the weeds which will have 
grown in it during the year. Then so soon as the fish are 
ready to spawn they will ascend from the ponds into the 
raceway seeking a place to nest . Then they are ready to 
be taken out and the spawn expressed. At the entrance 
of the raceway there should be a groove to receive a frame 
on which is tacked a net of coarse bagging about eight or 
ten feet long. One corner of this bag should be narrowed 
and tied with a string, like the mouth of a meal-sack. The 
race should be covered over in spawning time, as the fish 
will come under the cover better and are not so likely to 
be frightened at any one passing that way. If there are 
fifteen hundred or two thousand fish in the pond the net 
may be used every day in the height of the season, and 
when the fish become scarce, once in two or three days. 

Indications of spawning having been observed, the 
covers are put on the races, and being satisfied by sly peeps 
through the cracks of the covers that there are fish in the 



TAKING SPAWN BY HAND. 67 

raceway, the net is gathered up in one hand and the frame 
held in the other, in such a position as to be put in the 
groove as quickly as possible so as to let none of the fish 
escape from the race. Go quietly to the spot, and do not 
walk down the raceway to get to it, else you will frighten 
the fish ; but approach from one side and put the net in 
the groove as quickly as you can. The water running down 
will swell the net out to its full length. The covers may 
then be removed, and with a switch you may frigliten the 
fish down from the head of the raceway into the net. As 
soon as they are all in, the frame may be lifted out of the 
water, and the fish are then enclosed in the bag. A tub 
of water should be previously brought near the spot, and 
the end of the net can be lifted into the tub and untied 
when the fish will all fall into the tub without trouble. 
Coarse cloth is better for the purpose than netting, as it 
can be more easily tacked to the frame, does not hurt the 
fish so much, and lasts longer ; besides this, the water 
swells it out and holds it open for the fish to run in ; a net 
would not bag out so well, and the fish not seeing you 
through the cloth as they would through an open mesh are 
not scared, and do not try much to run back up the race. 
It must be remembered in this and all subsequent hand- 
lings of the fish, that if the outer skin of a Trout is broken 
or abraded by the hand or by contact with any hard sub- 
stance, it will, in nineteen cases out of twenty, cause the fish 
to dia A white fungus appears on it first where the skin 
is broken ; this fungus spreads over the fish until it is 
sometimes half covered with it before it dies. We speak 
of the covering of the Trout as "skin," because it feels 
like it and looks like it, although in reality a Trout is 
covered with minute scales. They will get over a deep 
and clear cut much more quickly than over a bruise where 
the cuticle or skin only is broken. 



68 TAKING SPAWN BT HAND. 

The fish being now in the tub must be taken to the 
hatching-house as quickly as possible. There are probably 
in the tub some lifteen or twenty fish, and all the opera- 
tions must be conducted as quickly as possible so that the 
fish will not die in the small quantity of water to which 
they are confined. So long as the fish lie quiet in the bot- 
tom of the tub there is sufticient air in the water to sustain 
them, but so soon as they begin to jump to the surface of 
the water and try to leap from the tub, it is a sign that the 
air is nearly exhausted and the water should be renewed. 
They will also open their mouth wide, just as a person 
would when gasping for air. The question has sometimes 
been asked how long a Trout would live out of water; the 
answer is, about as long as a man would live under the 
water. Trout will die in a tub out of which the oxygen 
has been exhausted by their breathing, more quickly than 
they would die in a cloudy day if out of the water en- 
tirely. 

A fire may be made in the hatching-house to warm 
your fingers, which will probably get cool while engaged 
in this operation. A six-quart milk-pan is to be provided, 
filled half full of water, if you have many fish, and also 
another tub of water, into which to put the fish after they 
are deprived of their spawn. Select a male fish, and hold- 
ing him over the milk-pan, with his belly under the sur- 
face, rub it gently with the fore finger and thumb, from 
the pectoral fins to the vent. A little experience will show 
how this is to be done. If the fish is ripe, a few drops of 
pearly or milk-colored milt is forcibly expressed into the 
water. If the milt is not of this color, it shows that the 
milt is not good, and another male must be taken and 
treated in a similar manner. Go on until a good one is 
found. But if the first one is not good, it is probable that 
the second one will be all right. Then take a female fish 
and pressing it in the same way, the eggs will be exuded. 



TAKING SPAWN BY HAND. 69 

The female must be pressed more slowly and oftener than 
the male. If the eggs are not ripe, by passing the hand 
lightly over the belly, you will feel them beneath, hard, 
like shot. In that case put the fish back into the pond, 
for the eggs to ripen. When the eggs are ripe, the belly 
will be soft and flabby, and the eggs beneath the skin feel 
loose and change their positions at the touch. So loose 
are they, that by holding the fish in a horizontal position, 
and then moving it up and down, the eggs will change 
their position in the womb, and fall downwards or upwards, 
as you hold the fish head downward or upward. The ope- 
ration must be continued, — first a male and then a female, 
until the fish are exhausted. The water in the pan may, 
at intervals, be gently stirred with the tail of the fish you 
are holding in your hand ; this is to change the position of 
the eggs, so as to be sure that all the eggs come in contact 
with the milt, and the tail of the fish is better than any- 
thing else to stir with, besides being ready in your hand. 
The pan should then be set in one of the hatching troughs 
through which the water is running ; this will keep the 
eggs up to the proper temperature, and prevent a sudden 
change when they are transferred to the trough. The eggs 
will now agglutinate or stick to the pan, and to each other, 
for a little while. 

I^ow then, having first put the fish back into the ponds, 
while you are waiting for the eggs to separate, we will 
say a few more words about handling the fish. A Trout, 
it is well known, may be tickled under the belly, and rather 
seems to like it, and will lie quiet in your hand while you 
are doing it. By putting the hand gently in the water, 
moving it cautiously around the fish, and gently lifting, he 
may be raised high and dry, and lie quietly without a 
struggle. But this mesmeric operation takes too long to 
try in spawning, and had better be left out of the ques- 
tion. There is a way, however, of grasping a Trout firmly, 
but gently. So fast that he cannot squirm, and yet not 



70 TAKING SPAWN BY HAND. 

hard enough to break the skin. This art, in its perfection, 
is one wliieh only great masters attain ; neither this, nor 
the subsequent manipulation, can be well done until after 
long practice. The novice will probably kill one-quarter 
of all the Trout he attempts to handle, and if, after years 
of experience, he loses only three or four out of every 
hundred, he may think himself pretty well advanced in 
the art. The fish must be grasped by the head (if you are 
right-handed), with the right hand, and by the tail, or 
rather the lower part of the body, with the other hand, 
and held over the pan with the belly in the water. As 
soon as the fish is quiet, the right hand may be gently 
slipped down from the head, and the fore finger and thumb 
used to press the belly. The fish still being held by the 
tail, and lower part in the left hand, and partly supported, 
perhaps, by the sleeve of the coat, or by the bare arm, and 
the remaining fingers of the right hand. Every one will 
have a way in which he can do this best, and will find it 
out after a few trials. If the fish is large and struggles 
violently, the usual direction given in the books, is to let 
an assistant hold the tail. We counsel you, if the fish 
struggles violently, whether it be large or small, to drop it 
back into the tub, manipulate another, and after a few 
minutes, try it again ; it will lie quiet after a while, espe* 
ciall}- if it is a small fish. If you attempt to hold a fish, 
which struggles violently, j^ou will be very apt to kill it. 
If, in addition to your own two hands, you get the two 
hands of an assistant, on the struggling fish, there 
is not much chance of saving him alive. Here is a 
better way. File the barb off' of a Ko. 4 hook, then tie 
it with three feet of line to a pliant switch, three feet long. 
Hook your fish on this, through the jaw, and, holding it 
in a tub of water, let it struggle until it is exhausted. 
Then the hook can be slipped out, no injury having been 
done to the Trout, and it c^n be handled without any difli- 
culty. 



TAKING SPAWN BY HAND. 71 

The large fish are harder to handle, struggle more vio- 
lently, and are more apt to be killed than the smaller ones 
and do not average so many eggs, although now and then 
one will have a very large number. Therefore, we consider 
that the best fish for breeders, when the operation is con- 
ducted by hand, are those weighing from one-quarter of a 
pound to one pound. 

While the eggs are standing in the pan, at intervals o 
three minutes, give the pan a gentle shake — ^just one shake. 
"While the eggs remain this way in the pan, the milt is 
coming into contact with them and impregnating them ; 
the object of the shake is to change the position of the 
eggs so as to get them all fairly exposed to the influence 
of the milt. It takes very little milt to impregnate 
a large number of eggs. Enough to slightly tinge the 
water, will impregnate a pan full of eggs. But, in prac- 
tice, we generally take all the milt we can get out of 
the haul. It is sometimes our custom also to put the male 
fish, whose milt has been exhausted, into a pond by them- 
selves, to keep them from running up into the race again, 
and troubling the females. This is a very good plan, if 
you have plenty of ponds and plenty of fish. If you have 
but a small number of males, compared with the number 
of females, put them back again into the pond, as they will 
probably have a second and third edition of milt. 

Twenty to twenty-five minutes having now elapsed since 
the pan of eggs was set into the trough, gently tip up the 
pan. If the eggs are loose from the pan, and roll separately 
as you move it, we are ready for subsequent operations ; if 
not yet loose, let them be a while longer, 

"We know that the semen of the male is full of animal- 
cules. These will live for ten or fifteen minutes. There 
is a hole for the reception of these animalcules in each 
egg. The egg always sinks into the water with this hole 
at the top. It receives one of the animacules only by this 



72 TAKING SPAWN BY HAND. 

opening, and then closes. It seems to be a special arrange- 
ment of Providence that the eggs shall agglutinate — stick 
fast to each other and to everything they touch — so that 
they shall not float away until they are impregnated and 
the Trout has had time to cover them. In the eggs of 
other fish, such as Bass and Perch, the same arrangement 
is seen ; only they stick fast the moment they touch any- 
thing, and stay there until hatched out, while that which 
fastens the eggs of the Trout dissolves as soon as the 
mother has had time to cover them. 

The eggs will now be loose and lying on the bottom of 
the pan. Pour off the dirty water until only sufficient is 
left to cover the eggs. If this is done very gently, the 
eggs, although very light, will remain at the bottom of the 
pan, as they are somewhat heavier than water ; then sink 
the pan into the water, at the same time tipping the pan, 
as described in the chapter on Eggs, and take the pan half 
full of water. The influx of water will wash the eggs 
around somewliat, and dilute the dirty water remaining in 
the pan. This is to be poured off, a& before, and the opera- 
tion repeated, until the water in the pan looks perfectly 
clear. There will be some dirt and droppings of the 
Trout still left, which can be carefully picked out with the 
nippers. If an egg should happen to be broken, while 
being taken from the Trout, every vestige of it should be 
carefully removed, as the slimy, sticky contents will get on 
the other eggs and kill them. The eggs are now ready to 
be placed in the trough, and having previously raised the 
water in the nest to which you wish to transfer them, by 
placing a strip across, proceed as described in the chapter 
on Eggs, 

From the above description, it will be seen that a few 
lessons in artificial impregnation, from an experienced 
band, will probably save the beginner much time and 
money. A written description of the process, however 



TAKING SPAWN BY AINSWOKTh's SCREENS. 73 

good, can never take the place of verbal instruction ; 
partly because it never conveys exactly the same idea to 
all, partly because seeing a thing is better than hearing 
about it, and most of all, because a written description is 
a general one, and hardly ever tells of the minutiae and va- 
riations which constantly occur in practice. As an exam- 
ple of this, it has been urged, all through this book, that 
in moving the eggs the beginner should not touch them 
with the feather, but should move tlie water over them, 
with the feather, so that the eggs should follow the current 
thus created ; also that he should be very careful, in re- 
moving the dead eggs, not to touch the others with the 
nippers. But, in our establishment, we constantly move 
the eggs with the feather, and push to one side the sound 
eggs with the nippers, in order to get at the dead ones. 
The reason simply is, that long practice has given the 
Tcnach of doing it, without injury to the eggs, and a tyro 
could not do it. 

Taking Spawn by Ainsworth's Screens. — Mr. Stephen 
H. Ains worth, the pioneer of fish-farming in this country, 
last year invented an apparatus, which is, we believe, des- 
tined to work a revolution in the whole science of fish- 
breeding. It has not yet been tried sufiiciently to pass a 
final judgment upon its merits. But so far- as it has been 
tried, it has answered a good purpose, and generally met 
with success. From a perusal of the preceding method of 
taking the spawn by hand, it will be seen that many diffi- 
culties attend the operation. In the first place, it requires 
long practice and a natural gift besides, in order to succeed in 
it well. Then, many of the fish are inevitably lost through 
being handled ; and the operation is a very inconvenient one. 
Requiring, as it does, to be performed in the depth of win- 
ter, when the ground is covered with snow, and water on 

one's hands and clothes soon becomes ice, it is a cold and 
6 



74 TAKING SPAWN BY AINSWORTh's SCREENS. 

disagreeable job. The plan which Mr. Ainsworth has in- 
vented obviates, in a great degree, these objections. As 
his apparatus is not patented, but generously offered free 
to the public, we describe it here. The difficulty in getting 
eggs impregnated naturally has been that the Trout would 
eat so many of them, when laid, and that being scattered 
about, on and under the stones and gravel, they could 
not easily be collected, and many, in any event, would be 
lost. The problem which Mr. Ainsworth had to solve was, 
then, to keep the Trout fi'om eating the eggs after they were 
laid, and to devise a plan by which they could be easily 
collected. This he accomplished by laying in the raceway 
two wire screens. The lower one of such fine wire that 
the eggs will not pass through ; that is, of about ten or 
fourteen threads to the inch. This wire is attached to a 
frame, made of inch stuff, and another inch strip nailed 
above it. Another frame is provided, of the same width 
and length, but the sides of which are from three to five 
inches deep ; upon this a coarse screen, of three or four 
wires to the inch, is fastened. The tine screen is first laid 
in the race, which being made of proper width, it fills, and 
the coarse screen is laid over it, with the wire side down. 
And there is a space, between the two screens, of one inch, 
protected from invasion on the top and bottom by the wire 
screens, and on the sides by the inch strip, on every side 
of the small screen. The top screen, which has sides three 
or four inches deep, is then to be filled with coarse gravel 
(so coarse that it will not pass through the meshes), to the 
depth of two inches. This gravel will overcome the buoy- 
ancy of the wooden frames, and cause them to sink into 
the water. Now the screens are readv for use. Let us see 
how they operate. A Trout comes along, and finds the 
grav'el. She sees no screens — only some nice gravel for 
nest-building, in what appears to be a shallow box. Sus- 
pecting no evil, she proceeds to make her nest, and in the 



TAKING SPAWN BY AINSWOETh's SCREENS. 75 

process of " slirting out " gravel with her tail, she moves 
it away from the meshes of the coarse screen, and leaves 
the bottom of her nest an open network. On this she 
emits her eggs, which are at the same time fecundated by 
the emission of the milt of the male Trout lying by her 
side. The eggs fall down into' the nest, but pass through 
the coarse wire screen, and are caught by the fine meshes 
of the lower screen. There they are safe. The Trout 
covers up the hole as usual. The hangers-on find no eggs 
to devour, and go their way. Another Trout may make 
her nest in the same place, without disturbing the eggs 
already laid, safe in their resting-place ; and when a plea- 
sant day comes, and you feel in the humor, you may take 
a pan of water, and taking ofi* the upper screen, gradually 
lift up the lower screen, brushing the eggs to one corner 
with a feather, and tip them all at last into your pan, with- 
out having exposed a single egg to the atmosphere, with- 
out any trouble in handling the fish, and without any loss 
of the breeders. These screens may be made as wide as 
your raceway, if it is not over two or three feet, and of a 
square shape. If your raceway is four feet wide, it is bet- 
ter to have your screens each two feet square, as this size 
is most convenient to handle when they are filled with 
gravel. Enough of them can be placed in the race- 
way to fill its whole length. One thing requires to be 
noted here. It takes a much larger raceway, for this pro- 
cess of natural impregnation, than it does when the eggs 
are impregnated artificially. In the latter case you need 
only room enough to make one Trout after another helieve 
she is going to lay her eggs ; in the other you must have 
room enough for her to carry out her intentions. 

Much discussion has taken place among fish-breeders and 
others interested in the art, as to the comparative value of 
the two methods, aside from the manual labor and loss of 
fish involved. That is, by which of the two methods the 



76 TAKING SPAWN BY AINSWORTh's SCREENS. 

most eggs are impregnated, and which are the most healthy 
or will produce the best fish. In answer to the first ques- 
tion, we answer that a skillful workman will impregnate 
more by hand than are impregnated in the natural way. 
But there are very few such skillful workmen. As the 
eggs of a Trout are not all ripe at the same time, the unripe 
ones are lost in hand impregnation ; but then, some are 
lost also in the screens, by falling upon the gravel and 
not passing through the wires, and also by being bruised 
in passing through. To the second question, we answer, 
that the fish hatched from those rightly impregnated 
by hand, are just as strong, grow as fast, and live as 
lone: as the others. Still, the advantag-es of Ainsworth's 
screens, for taking impregnated eggs, especially to a novice, 
are so great, as to preclude from him all question of arti- 
ficial manipulation. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

General Remarks. 

Stockijstg Ponds. — The question is often asked by begin- 
ners, with what shall I commence fish-farming ? Shall I 
buy the eggs and try to raise them, and wait three years 
for full-grown fish, or shall I buy adult fish, and from them 
take eggs, etc. ? The answer to this question depends upon 
two circumstances. First, how much money you have ; 
and second, how long you wish to wait. It is much cheaper 
to buy the eggs than the adult fish ; but then you will have 
to wait two or three years before you have any breeders. 
My own advice would be to try a few thousand eggs, and 
also a few hundred two-year old fish. At the present 
prices (1869-70), ten thousand eggs would cost eighty dol- 
lars, and two hundred two-year olds would cost about fifty 
dollars. Two hundred two year-olds would probably 
give about twenty thousand eggs. If you take this advice, 
you will have eggs to experiment with the first year. 
"With care, you will hatch out more or less, but in any case 
your experience will be invaluable to you for the next year, 
and you will have a stock of breeders, to furnish eggs, as 
you want them. 

Stocking Streams. — Persons who own Trout-streams 
would very often like to have them re-stocked, and some 
make feeble attempts to do it, by putting in a few thousand 
young fish. This would re-stock a small stream, if it was 
done every year, for some years. But it is folly to suppose 
that a stream which has been fished for years, and thousands 
taken from it every year, can be re-stocked quickly by putting 



STOCKING 8TKE.VMS. 



in a few hundred, or even a few tliousand young. If an ex- 
hausted Trout-stream had teu thousand young put into it, 
every year, for three years, it would then stand the strain of 
moderate fishing to the end of the world. If you attempt 
to stock your streams at all, don't do it half-way. Remem- 
ber that the less fish you put in, the longer you will have 
to wait. It is niucli easier to stock a stream than to raise 
fish in ponds ; because the young fish will take care of 
themselves better than any one can take care of them ; and 
if they are protected from danger, until they are forty -five 
days old, they are then tolerably able to take care of them- 
selves. In stocking a stream, the young fish should be 
taken to its head-waters, or put into the springs, or little 
rivulets, which empty into it. As they grow larger, they 
will gradually settle down stream, and run up again to the 
head-waters in winter to spawn. 

When putting fish into a stream, do not put them sud- 
denl}' into water much warmer than that of the vessel in 
which they are brought. They will not so likely be in- 
jured by putting them into colder water ; but try to avoid 
all sudden changes, and gradually raise or lower the tem- 
perature of the water in which you bring them, until it is 
even with that of the stream in which they are to be placed. 

Will it Pay ? — This question has been asked of us more 
often, perhaps, than any other, and is more difticult to an- 
swer. The same energy and tact, which will make any 
other business pay, will make this pay. Many men start 
in the dry -goods business; not many succeed. And yet 
the dry-goods business pays. While Trout are selling at a 
dollar per pound, the business certainly must pay. Even 
if they come down to twenty-five cents per pound, the 
profit must still be large. But all persons do not have the 
natural ability required for this business, and would not 
succeed in it. Not all men can be good farmers, or law- 



WILL IT PAT ? 79 



yers, or pisciculturists. The question of profit depends much 
upon the cheapness of food, and here is another point where 
farmers have the advantage in this business, as they have 
the bulk of the food ready to their hands, and fattening 
Trout will pay better than fattening pigs. 

If much competition arises, even then it will be the 
same as in any other business. He, who by economy in 
practice and the use of improved methods, can sell his fish 
the cheapest, will make the money. If the time should 
come in the future, when, on account of competition, but 
little money can be made at the business, then competition 
will naturally be reduced, and the price will rise to a pay- 
ing figure. People will not raise Trout for sale, unless 
they can make money by it, and so long as there is any de- 
mand for Trout, somebody will have the chance. 

Advice to those Stakting m the Business for Pkofit. 
— Remember that it will be two years before you can hope 
to sell any fish for table use ; so do not enter into it 
unless you have some means of support for that time. The 
persons who have the most natural advantages for this 
business are those farmers, who have springs or cold streams 
on their farm — now almost useless — but which may be 
turned to advantage in raising fish. They, depending on 
their farm meanwhile for support, can yet give time and 
attention to the experiment, and engage in it altogether if 
it succeeds, or abandon it, without serious loss, if they fail. 
It is peculiarly adapted to them, also, because it demands 
most attention in the winter, when they have least to 
do on the farm. Meanwhile, until fish-farming becomes 
rather less of an experiment, and more of an exact science, 
it would be well for impecunious young men, seeking for- 
tunes, to leave the business to capitalists and corporations. 
To those who wish to raise fish for their own table use, or to 
afford sport in angling, to themselves and friends, we would 



80 ADVICE TO THOSE STARTING IN THE BUSINESS. 

say that we can tliink of no way in which a little time and 
money can be so well laid out as in Trout-raising. 

In the preceding chapters, it may appear to the casual 
reader that we have given more details than were neces- 
sary ; but we are sure that every beginner of fish-culture 
will think differently. We are also so used to writing 
letters and answering questions on the subject, that in our 
book we have said, " you must," and " you should," a great 
deal more often than was required. However, if we have 
got the facts right, nobody, we suppose, will complain of 
our taking liberties with the second person singular. 



PATENT ROLLER SPAWNING BOX. 



My partner, Mr. A. S, Collins, has recently invented an 
improvement in the method of taking naturally impreg- 
nated spawn. This improvement removes many of the 
objections to Ainsworth's screens, as formerly used, and is, 
in my opinion, of very great value. We have had one in 
operation at our ponds the whole of this season ; it has 
worked to our perfect satisfaction, and next year (1870) we 
shall put them down in every race we have. The princi- 
ple used is that of the Ainsworth's screens, and the improve- 
ment consists in the method of collecting the eggs. 




Figure 1, represents a small spawning box with a 
portion of the side removed. Figure 2, (on the next 
page), is an enlarged view of the front of the same 
box. At A, is seen a double row of coarse wire 
screens, eight in number, (three meshes to the inch). 



82 



PATENT EOLLEB SPAWNING BOX. 



Tliese screens are to be filled with coarse gravel, 
and the eggs pass through as in Ainsworth's screens. Un- 
der these is an endless apron of fine wire cloth, (B), pass- 
ing over rollers at the two ends of the box. This apron of 
wire cloth is about one inch beneath the upper screen, and 
is kept in its place and prevented from sagging by small 
cross-bars, (two of which are seen in the cut), correspond- 
ing to the divisions of the upper screen and running in 
grooves in the sides of the box. These cross-bars also keep 




the eggs from being carried down by the current. 'The 
front roller can be turned by the handle seen at G. As 
the roller is turned forward it moves the screen with it, 
and, of course, the eggs as they come to the edge of the 
roller will fall off. The pan, C, (fig. 2) is placed in front 
of the roller, receives the eggs as they fall, and the opera- 
tion is complete. The box need not be more than two feet 
deep, and may be made only eighteen inches deep ; it is- 
set directly in the raceway, and intended to fill it com- 
pletely. The water enters in the direction of the arrows, 
and may either enter with a fall over the top of the box, 
as seen in figure 1, or the top of the box may be cut down 



PATENT ROLLER SPAWNING BOX, 83 

until tlie water will euter on the level at which it is to 
stand over the screens. 

F, (fig. 1), is a screen intended to prevent anj fish get- 
ting to the lower screen, either from within or from with- 
out, and may extend to the bottom of the box. 

D, is a screen for the same puipose at the front of the 
box. When the eggs are to be taken, the screen is raised 
on hinges to an upright position, as seen in fig. 2. This 
confines the fish which may happen to be in the race, and 
none of them can get below. The pan is then lowered to 
its position, the roller turned and the eggs taken. When 
the operation is finished the screen, D, is again lowered, 
the button turned, and the work is done. If the box is 
wide — say four feet — it is more convenient to have the pan 
made in two or three sections, inserted in a light frame, 
as the eggs can be more easily carried in and poured out 
of a shorter pan. 

The box can be of any length from four feet to sixty feet, 
or even longer, and of any width, trom two feet to six or 
eight. If it is made very wide, an additional longitudinal 
support must be provided for the revolving screen. We 
recommend the following dimensions for Speckled Trout 
races : Two feet deep, two feet wide, and from ten to 
twenty feet long, or four :^t wide and twenty to forty teet 
long. The upper screens may be made in convenient sec- 
tions, the whole width of the box and six or eight feet 
long, 

A few of the advantages of the plan are as follows : — 
Compare a double row of two feet square, Ainsworth 
screens, forty feet long and four feet wide,(such as we have 
now in use), with one of our spawning boxes of the same 
dimensions. 

1st. Bj the old way, it would take two men a good 
half day to remove the screens singly, feather oflf the eggs 



84r PATENT HOLLER SPAWNING BOX. 

in a careful manner and return each screen to its proper 
place. 

It would take the new spawning box about fifteen min- 
utes to do the same work, with one man. 

2d. The weight of the gravel which has to be lifted 
in the old way, amounts to many tons in the course ot the 
season. 

In the new box, the gravel is not lifted at all. 

3d. By the old way the operator's hands must, of neces- 
sity be more or less wet during the whole operation. Now, 
as the Trout, &c., spawn during the winter season, it may 
be imagined how pleasant this feels when the thermometer 
is anywliere below the freezing point. 

By the new way the hands are not made wet, and may 
be kept comfortably gloved. 

4th. By the old way, more or less of the eggs are lost 
by careless feathering, exposing the eggs to the freezing 
atmosphere, clumsiness in handling the screens by cold 
fingers, &c., &c. 

By tlie new way, every egg is saved. 

5th. By the old method every fish is driven out of the 
race when the eggs are taken. Some of them will not re- 
turn, but will seek a spawning place in the pond, and many 
eggs will be unavoidably lost. 

By the new way the fish are not driven from the race. 
And, as the boxes are always covered during the season, 
tlie fish will not even be disturbed. In fact they may 
spawn while the eggs are being taken^ and yet not a single 
egg be lost. 

This spawning box answers for securing the naturally 
impregnated eggs of Salmon, Salmon Trout, Speckled 
Brook-Trout, Whitefish, Shad, &c., &c. 

The screens, F and D, are so made that while a full cur- 
rent is permitted to flow over the upper screens, (A), only a 



PATENT ROLLER SPAWNING BOX. 85 

prentle current can flow through the under part of the box. 
This current is meant to be so regulated, that when the 
pan, C, is placed about an inch from the turning roller, all 
the small stones which the Trout may whip through the 
upper screen will fall short of the pan, the eggs being 
lighter will be carried by the current into the pan, while 
a great part of the dirt, &c., which may collect on the low- 
er screen, will be carried up over the pan and entirely out 
of the box. The under screen may be made of tarred mus- 
lin or mosquito netting. But wire cloth (8 or 10 meshes 
to the inch), keeps much the cleanest, and we are inclined 
to think it best for the purpose. 

A brush may also be placed under the forward roller ; 
80 that every time the roller is turned the screen will be 
perfectly cleaned. 

The box looks, at first sight, somewhat compli- 
cated in structure, but is, in reality, perfectly simple. 
Any one who has a knack of using tools can make such a 
box, which would answer the purpose perfectly. The cost 
is very little more than that of the old screens, (same area). 
The extra expense for tv/o rollers, two hinges and handle, 
being, perhaps, two or three dollars. 

We are now ready to sell, for a moderate price the right 
to make and use such boxes, and will give to purchasers 
full description, &c. Address, Seth Green & Collins 
Caledonia, N, Y. 



APPENDIX. 



Fish Farm at Caledonia, N. Y. 



This celebrated fish-farm is three quarters of a mile from Caledonia, 
N. Y. Caledonia is a small village, about seventeen miles south-west 
of Rochester, and seven miles west of Avon Springs. Both the New 
York Central and Erie railroads have stations at Caledonia. The Roch- 
ester and State Line railroad, recently planned, will have a station at 
the village of Mumford, which is one- quarter of a mile from us. Cale- 
donia is noted for its creek, which rises entirely from springs, is fed 
along its whole course by springs in its beds, and at our fish-farm, which 
is about three-quarters of a mile from the source, it runs about eighty 
barrels of water per second, 4,800 per minute, or something over 
200,000,000 of gallons in twenty-four hours. Quite a respectable quan- 
tity of water, and the whole of it available for our ponds, if we wish to 
use it. The ground in the neighborhood being very level, no surface- 
drainage of any account washes into the creek, and the water looks 
pure as crystal. It is, in reality, slightly tinctured with lime and sulphur; 
but must agree with the fish, as the creek has always been noted for its 
Trout, and still abounds in them. This fish-farm is now owned by Seth 
Green, A. S. Collins and S. M. Spencer. It embraces within its limits 
one-half mile of the creek. The ponds, etc., being arranged for a special 
pur-pose, are not laid out according to the plan given in this work. Be- 
sides this, some of them were laid out when we first commenced fish-cul- 
ture and did not have the experiencewhich we have now gained ; still as 
the supply of water is so large, they serve a very good purpose, even in 
their present state. Although the intention has been to raise fish for 
market, yet the reputation of the senior member of the firm, as a fish- 
culturist, and the publicity given to our farm, through the papers, has 
caused such a demand upon us for eggs, young fry, and adult fish, for 
stocking ponds, that it taxes all our resources to supply this demand, 
without selling a pound of fish for eating. As we take the greatest of 
care in collecting the eggs and packing them, and from inspection with 



APPENDIX. 87 



a miscroseope, before sending them away, are sure that a good per cent- 
age are impregnated, our eggs are sure to hatch out, with ordinary care 
and ability. Our experience and care, together with the reputation 
which some years of fish-farming has given us, are guaranties that every- 
thing obtained from us will be of the best. As before said, we do not 
guarantee success to every one ; that depends upon the individual who 
makes the trial. But we do guarantee to give him the best of materials 
to work with. And he will succeed, unless he is careless or incompe- 
tent. " That which has been done once, can be done again." 

Our prices are as follows (1869-70), for Trout ova, by the single thou- 
sand, ten dollars. For five thousand, or over, eight dollars per thousand. 
We send them from December 1st to March 1st. They will be sent by 
express at our risk, and can be sent anywhere in the United States, to 
Canada, England, or France. To the Southern States, they can be sent 
with safety only in the coldest winter weather. Young Trout fry, one 
inch long, we sell at the ponds, or deliver at ournearest express station, 
for thirty dollars per thousand. "We sell them from Feb. 1st to May 1st. 
In cool weather, one thousand can be carried safely a two days' jour- 
ney, in four gallons of water. The best time to send the young fry is 
four or five days before the umbilical sac is off the belly ; then they do 
not sufl'er for lack of food, and do not require so much water. Onei year 
old Trout, we sell at about twelve dollars per hundred. Two-year old, 
about twenty-five dollars per hundred : the price depending somewhat 
upon the size of the fish. We pick out an equal number of males and 
females, in good condition, and charge a little more than the market 
price for dead fish. Eggs we can send safely, by express, any distance ; 
but fish have to be sent in cans, or barrels, or tanks of some kind, and 
the employes of the Express companies will not always bother them- 
selves, even to the extent of keeping the cans or barrels right side up. 
Fish can be carried alive, in cold weather, with much less trouble than 
in warm weather, but can be sent any time, if some one goes along to 
take care of them. If we send a man with them, we charge for his time 
and travelling expenses, and send the fish at our risk. Otherwise, we 
sell the fish at buyer's risk. 

We give lessons in the art of Trout-culture at ten dollars per day 
(Board can be obtained at the hotel, one-quarter of a mile from us.) 
These lessons consist of instruction in the method of handling the fish, 
and all the minutiae of the art, and are best given from January to May, 
because then all our operations are in progress ; but will be given as well 
as possible, at any time. We also lay out ponds and stock streams 
for any one desiring our services. Our charge, for personal attendance 
on such business, is ten dollars per day, and expenses. 



88 



A-PPENDIX. 



A detailed description of our farm has been given so often in the pa- 
pers, that it is unnecessary here, and besides woukl not be of much use 
to the beginner, as our arrangements are made with reference to getting 
the greatest possible quantity of eggs and young fish. We sell a few of 
the largest and most unwieldy breeders each year. But, if our business 
in stocking ponds increases, in tlie same ratio as it has done in past 
years, we shall have more than we can manage. A few items, in regard 
to the ponds, may be of interest. We have one pond, seventy feet by 
ten ; one, thirty by ten ; two, thirty by twenty ; one, thirty by twenty- 
five ; besides many other smaller ponds. These are not very alarming 
proportions ; but the reader will see that we practice what we preach, 
and use small ponds with large supply of water. We use about ten thou- 
sand of our adult fish as breeders. We run so much water through the 
ponds (never using the same water twice) that we could fill them, if 
necessary, with fish, so that the bottom would be entirely hidden from 
sight, and the Csh would do well. Our hatching-house has a capacity 
for starting two million of eggs; that is, it will hatch out that number of 
eggs ; but there would be too many, after hatching, for the amount of 
water. If we wished to keep them in the troughs, two or three months 
after hatching, we would not put in more than two hundred thousand. 
The grounds are being improved, year by year, and are getting to be 
quite a resort for the summer visitors in the neighborhood. The water 
in our stream never freezes ; does not fall below forty-five degrees in 
winter, nor rise above sixty in the hottest summer weather. The volume 
of water is almost uniform, being very little affected by drouth or rain, 
and does not vary through the year more than four or five inches. 
Altogether, it is one of the best places we have ever seen for the pur- 
pose, and we doubt if it can be equalled. 

Most of our States have laws relating to the protection offish, similar 
intone to'that of New York. We give that portion of it relating to 
Trout, thinking that it may be of use to the breeder. 



GAME LAW OF NEW YORK, 

RELATING TO TROUT. 



Sec. 13. — Any person trespassing upon lands owned or occupied by 
another, for the purpose of shooting, hunting or. fishing thereon, after 
public notice by such owner or occupant as provided in the following 
section, shall be deemed guilty of trespass, and shall be liable to such 
owner or occupant in exemplary damage for each offense not exceeding 
twenty-five dollars, and shall also be liable to the owner or occupant for 
the value of the game killed or taken. 

Sec. 14. — The notice referred to in the preceding section shall be 
given by publishing an advertisement particularly describing such land, 
and forbidding such trespass in the oflicial papers of the county, or a 
paper published in a town where such lands are situated, for the period 
of three weeks, and in the months of April and May in each year, by 
sign-boards, at least one foot square, to be put up and maintained in not 
less than two conspicuous places on the premises; such notices to be 
signed by or have appended thereto the name of the owner or occu- 
pant. 

Sec. 15. — No person shall place in any fresh water stream, lake or 
pond, without the consent of the owner, or in shore waters and estuaries 
with rivers debouching into them, any lime or other deleterious sub- 
stance, with the intent to injure fish ; or any drug or medicated bait, with 
intent thereby to poison or catch fish; nor place in any pond or lake 
stocked with and inhabited by Trout or Black Bass, any drug or other 
deleterious substance, with intent to destroy such Trout or Bass ; nor 
place in any fresh water, pond or stream stocked with Brook-Trout any 
Pike, Pickerel, Black Bass or Rock Bass, or other piscivorous fish (Sal- 
mon exce[ ted) without the consent of the owner or owners of such lands 
upon which such pond or stream is situated. Any person violating the 
provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and 
shall, in addition thereto, and in addition to any damage he may have 
done, be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars. 



90 GAME LAW OF NEW YORK. 



Sec. 17. — No person shall at any time, with intent so to do, catch 
any speckled Brook-Trout, or any speckled river Trout, with auy device 
save only with a hook and line, and no person shall catch any such 
Trout, or have auy such Trout iu his or her possession save only during 
the months of April, May, June, July and August, under a penalty of 
live dollars for each Trout so caught or had in his possession ; but this sec- 
tion shall not prevent any person or corporation from catching Trout in 
waters owned by them, or upon their premises to slock other waters, in 
any manner or at any time. But the counties of Kings, Queens and Suf- 
folk shall be excepted from the provisions of the above section, so far as 
to allow the taking or catching of Trout in the counties last named dur- 
ing the month of March. 

Sec. 18. — Any person, or persons, or company engaged in the in- 
crease of Brook-Trout by artificial process (known as fish-culture), may 
take from their own ponds, in any way, and cause to be transported, 
and may sell Brook-Trout and the spaAvn of Brook-Trout at any time, 
and common carriers may transport them, and dealers may sell them, 
on condition that the packages thereof so transported are accompanied 
by a certificate of a Justice of the Peace, certifying that such Trout are 
sent by the owner or owners, or agent of parties so engaged in fish-cul- 
tare. And such persons or company may take, in any way, at anytime 
upon the premises of any person, under permission of the owner thereof, 
Brook-Trout to be kept and used as Brook-Trout for artificial propaga- 
tion only, and for no other purpose. 



TRANSPORTATION OF LIVE FISH. 



Many expensive tanks have been constructed for transporting fish 
alive, answering the purpose more or less perfectly. "We give here a 
simple and inexpensive method : Take a barrel or cask, washed until it 
is clean and sweet. Fit a cover to it tightly to prevent the water splash- 
ing over while in the cars or wagon. A piece of canvass tied over the 
top, answers every purpose. A hole one inch in diameter may be made 
in the middle of the cover. Fill with water within six inches of the 
top, as the agitation of the water on the journey helps to jerate it. Tie 
some ice in a piece of flannel and fasten it to the side of the cask 'near 
the top so that it shall not swing about and bruise the fish, and the cold 
drip from the ice will sink to the bottom. If the journey is to be a pro- 
longed one, fit the nozzle of a common bellows with a tin tube 
long enough to reach to the bottom of the cask, and by blowing a little 
now and then the fish can be carried thousands of miles. We do not 
give this as the best plan, but as a cheap and inexpensive method an- 
swering a very good purpose. The best apparatus would be a metal 
tank of some kind with double walls, permanent ice chamber in the 
middle, and automatic air-pump. 



YOUNG TROUT CAUGHT IN WEBS. 



Since finisliitiE: the body of this work I have been engaged in hatch- 
ing out Whitefish and have discovered something wliich I wish to note 
here. There is a small worm which is a fovorite food of Trout and 
many other kinds of fish. This worm is one of the greatest enemies 
whicli the young fry have. It spins a web in the water to catch young 
fisli, just as a spider does on land to catch flies. I have seen them make 
the web and take tlie fish. Tiie web is as perfect as that of the spider 
and as much mechanical ingenuity is displayed in its construction. It 
is made as quickly and in the same way as a spider's, bj' fastening the 
threads at ditferent points and going back and forth until the web is 
finished. The threads arc not strong enough to hold the young Trout 
after the umbilical sac is absorbed, but the web will stick to the fins and 
get wound around the head and gills and soon kills the fish. I have 
often seen it on the young Trout and it has been a great mystery and 
caused me many hours, days and weeks of study to find out what was 
wound around the heads and fins of ray young Trout and killed them. 
I did not find out until lately, while watching recently hatched White- 
fish. These are much smaller than the Trout when they begin to swim, 
and they were caught and held by the web. I found ten small White- 
fish caught in one web in one night. This web was spun in a little 
Whitefish preserve, into which I had put one hundred j-^oung fish. The 
threads/spun by this worm seem to be much finer than the common 
spider's web, and they are not visible in the water until the sediment 
collects upon them. They can then be seen very plainly. These webs 
cannot be spun where there is much current and can be easily seen 
in still water by a close observer. 



TROUT CLTLTIIRE, 



BY 



SETH GREEN. 



Published by Seth Green and A. S. Collins, 
CALEDONIA, N. Y. 



For Sale by 

D. M. J^uwEY, Rochester, N. Y. 

W. I. PooLE-i , :;3i Peart. St., New YOrk dry. 



ANDREW CLERK & Co., 

48 MAIDEIV LME, NEAT YORK, 




Manufacturers and Importers of all kinda of 

RODS, REELS, LINES, ETC. 



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